From left: Kathleen McDaniel, Lisa Muto, Patricia Cunningham, Sara Kiarsis and Joan Reede.
Patricia Cunningham, academic program manager for the Irving M. London Society of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and Sara Kiarsis, director of academic and clinical affairs, received the 2018 Daniel D. Federman Staff Award for Exceptional Service to HMS/HSDM at a ceremony held Feb. 7 in the Armenise Amphitheater.
The annual award, named for Daniel Federman, who died in 2017, recognizes staff members who embody a spirit of service to Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, exemplified by Federman’s own 50-year commitment to service to the School and its community of staff, students, trainees, faculty and leadership. Established in 2014, the award serves to recognize individuals for exceptional institutional engagement, setting the highest standards of service and serving as an inspiration to their peers.
“I had the privilege of working with Dr. Federman when he was dean for medical education. The Federman Award is thus personal to me, and I am deeply grateful,” said Cunningham after receiving the award—an engraved silver bowl.
Federman, who was the Carl W. Walter Distinguished Professor of Medicine, championed the intrinsic value of staff contribution to the mission and overall success of the Schools. In a video played at the ceremony, he said “And when an institution like Harvard… stands and comments, ‘This person did something that helped our mission,’ you can’t help but get a little catch in your throat. It’s an important moment.”
This moment was not lost on Kiarsis, a member of the HMS community for the past two decades. “Recognition is embedded in the values of Harvard Medical School,“ Kiarsis said. She thanked her mentors, Nancy Tarbell, dean for academic and clinical affairs, and Eleanor Shore, senior consultant to the Office of Academic and Clinical Programs, who first hired Kiarsis as a temporary employee and who, according to Kiarsis, established the standard she has tried to emulate ever since.
Cunningham, who has worked at HMS for 38 years, also expressed gratitude to her colleagues at HMS and HST for their friendship and support, as well as to the preclerkship students who nominated her for the honor.
“I am particularly proud of this award program,“ said Joan Reede, dean for diversity and community partnership, who hosted the ceremony. The Federman Award, she continued, celebrates “those who consistently step up when there is a need, or who go above and beyond in service to these great Schools… but whose contributions often go unrecognized.”
An advisory committee of faculty and staff from HMS, HSDM and HMS-affiliated hospitals reviewed this year’s nominations. The advisory committee reports to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, George Q. Daley, who reviews the nominees’ contributions to the institution and selects the recipients.
The call for nominations for the 2019 Daniel D. Federman Staff Award for Exceptional Service to HMS/HSDM will be announced in late April by email, in the MyHMS newsletter and on the Office for Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership website.
Image: M. RUCINSKI-SZWEC
