2010 Commitment to Excellence Award Winners

Over the last year, many areas of the University were asked to address difficult public health issues across campus, including a local meningitis outbreak and the H1N1 influenza virus. Last spring, a Penn Pandemic Incident Management Team (IMT) comprised of members from the Provost’s Office, Office of University Life, Human Resources, Student Health, UPHS, Environmental Health and Safety and other departments gathered in order to tackle these problems. They responded to a cluster of suspected meningitis cases among students on campus by ensuring the effective treatment of individuals with suspected or confirmed meningitis and arranging extraordinary mass preventative antibiotic clinics for nearly 4,000 Penn students.

In response to the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, the Pandemic IMT was asked to expand to include various Penn administrators and faculty members and challenged to develop a plan to respond to a flu pandemic should circumstances warrant University action. This cross-campus group used their experience from the meningitis outbreak to develop a comprehensive plan. Many aspects of this plan have already been implemented, including education, treatment, surveillance, and communication initiatives. The strategic efforts of the Pandemic IMT also allowed for the execution of mass vaccination clinics for faculty, staff and students. More than 10,000 members of the Penn community were vaccinated in accordance with the priority guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and the Philadelphia Department of Health.

In acknowledgement of the Pandemic IMT’s exceptional leadership throughout their pandemic planning efforts and their outstanding commitment to excellence and public health in the face of extraordinary, unprecedented conditions, we are very pleased to award these staff members with Commitment to Excellence recognition. They will be recognized at the Models of Excellence Ceremony on April 6 and honored at a separate event in mid-April.

Dr. Amy Behrman Penn Medicine	Tom Hauber University Life	Dr. Nicole Otto University Life
Douglas Berger Business Services	Phyllis Holtzman University Communications	Lisa Payakovich University Life
Dr. P .J. Brennan Penn Medicine	Lisa Keogh University Life	Janet Plantan Office of the Executive Vice President
Leo Charney Provost’s Office	Dr. Max King University Life	Dr. Thomas Reda University Life
Jeanne F. Curtis Information Systems & Computing	Marilyn Kraut Human Resources	Terri Ryan Human Resources
Dr. Betsy Datner Penn Medicine	Trevor Lewis Office of the Provost	Sharon Smith University Life
Benjamin Evans Finance	Kevin Mahoney Penn Medicine	Suzanne M. Smith Human Resources
Deputy Chief Michael Fink Public Safety	Sharon McMullen University Life	Mary Spada University Life
Matthew Finucane Environmental Health & Radiation Safety	Steve Minicola University Communications	Gary Truhlar Human Resources
Dr. Neil Fishman Penn Medicine	Dr. Ajay Nair University Life	Matt Waller University Life
Dr. Anita Gelburd Information Systems & Computing	Dr. Rob Nelson Office of the Provost	Dr. Evelyn Wiener University Life
Mary Guagenti University Life	Kenneth Ogawa Facilities and Real Estate Services