The UC Riverside School of Medicine announced the winners of its inaugural staff awards at the annual Staff Retreat on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
The awards are presented to staff members of the School of Medicine and UCR Health in the categories of clinical, education, administrative, and research. The criteria of each category vary slightly but are built around the School of Medicines values of excellence, accountability, respect, integrity, innovation, and inclusion. The winners receive a certificate of recognition, lunch with VC and the Mark and Pam Rubin Dean Deborah Deas, MD, and a $500 cash award.
Individuals were nominated by staff and faculty and selected by committee members KA Aguilar, Tracy Bereal, Danielle Bowers, Isaac Owusu-Frimpong, Amy Gu, Pam Hunter, Monica Monter, Jeff Pace, Jessica Portillo, Krystal Rivas, Hermila Torres, Patricia Walker, Alex White. The co-chairs of the committee were Steve Reyes and Jennifer Rodriguez.
The winners in each category are listed below, along with an excerpt of their nomination.
Education
Marleen Mendoza
"Marleen takes a leadership role on many projects and is always willing to help a teammate. Marleen is committed to process improvement and has launched and managed a new way of managing exams and collecting curriculum management data. Marleen goes above and beyond to serve our faculty and students."
Michelle Fulbright
"Michelle has gone above and beyond the call of duty multiple times. In terms of innovations, Michelle created several first looks in admissions to engage accepted applicants in showcasing UCR SOM strengths during application cycle. Michelle takes the lead in providing any admissions data when requested and facilitates coordination of data transfer to Banner and Acuity to ensure compliance with internal and external agencies."
Research
Angelica Bazan
"Angelica has made significant contributions to the division as she works to administer all the travel arrangements for faculty and graduate students. She is always available to answer questions and troubleshoot travel expenses. Angelica takes the time to thoroughly explain procedures and policies. She always treats faculty, students, and colleagues with respect."
Kelsea Armstrong
"Kelsea helped lead us in producing a very large U54 grant application that ultimately came to an approximately 800 page document. This was an incredibly impressive effort, which involved Kelsea organizing document preparation and collection across several SOM departments/faculty. The budget process alone was a remarkable iterative process that she was at the center of that ended up producing a tight refined budget that had multiple checks to ensure a clean overall budget with multiple units in the overall center proposal."
Clinical
Rubie Herrera-Onate
"Rubie is a hard worker with a passion for patient care. Her positive attitude and strong work ethic keep the clinic flowing. Patients love Rubie. I always look forward to the days when I work with Rubie in the clinic because I know things will move efficiently and that we will have fun!"
Jessica Flores
"Jessica is a great team player and has outstanding patient care. She is a great asset to the psychiatry department. Has helped the start of the Residency program every year to go as smoothly as possible. She worked through Covid Pandemic always willing to help. She has helped our patients through the mychart transition in clinic step by step with patience and positive attitude. She is always willing to help providers and her coworkers when we have any questions in clinic."
Administration
Kristen West
"Kristen West has continued to be such an exceptional member of our team. She has been willing to create various procedures and do Zoom training with the roll out of our ServiceNow ticket system. She has been a mentor in training me how to submit a request and track orders in the efforts to stay up to date. She always makes time in her busy schedule to meet with a Requestor to test, if they are receiving an error message. Despite the many technical difficulties she has faced, she has remained positive with a smile on her face."
Suzette Soto
"Suzette Soto has consistently offered excellent communication and service to our team in the Center for Simulated Patient Care. She is always willing to go above her duties to support our team and recognizes how much her support strengthens our team. This year she has developed relationships with all our team members and comes by regularly to "drop in" and make sure we're doing all right. She solves issues with our software, SimCapture, and assists in our instructional needs efficiently and effectively."
