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2023 RBHS Chancellor Awardees

August 30, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

The Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor’s Office is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 RBHS Chancellor Awards. The RBHS Chancellor Awards were established in 2020 to annually acknowledge the extraordinary work of our faculty and staff. 

In addition to these important recognitions, awardees will be honored during a celebratory event to be held in October.

A special thank you to all the nominators and those who participated on the review committees. There were many highly qualified nominees for these recognitions, so the selection committees had a challenging task. It’s important to highlight that a nomination in and of itself is an important form of recognition by a co-worker, colleague, mentee, or unit director.

Please join us in congratulating the following honorees of 2023:

Excellence in Basic Sciences Research Award 

For significant contributions, by an early career or established investigator, to impactful basic science or translational research.

Established Investigator

  • Ah-Ng Tony Kong (Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy), Distinguished Professor, Glaxo Endowed Chair in Pharmaceutics, Department of Pharmaceutics

Excellence in Clinical or Health Sciences Research Award

For significant contributions, by an early career or established investigator, to impactful clinical or health sciences research.

Early Career

  • Stephanie Shiau (School of Public Health), Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
  • Chintan Dave (Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy), Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration

Established Investigator

  • Olivia A. Wackowski (School of Public Health), Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy

Excellence in Clinical or Healthcare Delivery Award     

For significant contributions to provide excellence in clinical or healthcare delivery.

  • Erin Muckey (New Jersey Medical School), Assistant Professor and Medical Director, Department of Emergency Medicine
  • Kiwon Lee (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Chief of Stroke and Neurocritical Care Division, Department of Neurology

Excellence in Community Service Award

For significant contributions and leading efforts to serve external communities and be committed in service to others.

  • Ana Natale-Pereira (New Jersey Medical School), Associate Professor of Medicine, Division Director, General Internal Medicine, Associate Dean for Primary Care and Community Initiatives, Department of Medicine
  • Anita Kinney (School of Public Health), Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Director, Center of Cancer Health Equity
  • Jamir Tuten (New Jersey Medical School), Program Manager, Infectious Diseases Practice

Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award

For significant contributions to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching, scholarship, or service including clinical care at RBHS.

  • Herminio L. Perez (Rutgers School of Dental Medicine), Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Diversity & Inclusion, and Assistant Professor, Department of Restorative Dentistry
  • Teri E. Lassiter (School of Public Health), Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, and Assistant Professor, Department of Urban-Global Public Health
  • Arpita Jindani (Global Health Institute), Senior Program Manager, Health Equity, Education and Training
  • Courtney Terry (New Jersey Medical School), Assistant Director of Information Technology, Office of the Chief Operating Officer

Excellence in Education and Teaching Award

For significant contributions to education and teaching.

  • Sophia Chen (New Jersey Medical School), Assistant Dean, Pre-clerkship Education, Assistant Director of the Pediatric Clerkship, Department of Pediatrics
  • Ilya Ostrovsky (New Jersey Medical School), Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and Co-Director, Emergency Ultrasound Assistant Program Director

Distinguished Educator Award

For exceptional, sustained contributions to education, teaching, and training.

  • Andrew R. Berman (New Jersey Medical School), Professor of Medicine and Division Director for Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Allergy and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine

Distinguished Mentor Award

For exceptional, sustained contributions to mentoring postdoctoral and/or clinical fellows, junior faculty, and staff, and/or mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.

  • Elisa Bandera (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), Professor, Department of Medicine and Chief, Cancer Epidemiology and Health Outcomes, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey

Distinguished Innovator Award    

For exceptional, sustained contributions to innovation in at least one of the RBHS mission areas.

  • James V. Guarrera (New Jersey Medical School), Professor and Executive Vice Chair, Department of Surgery, Chief, Transplant/ HPB Surgery, Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology

Emerging Leader Award

For an emerging leader who demonstrates a high potential for success through significant contributions to RBHS.

  • Neil Silver (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), Senior Director of Administration, Department of Pediatrics

Leadership Award

For an existing leader who demonstrates exemplary leadership through significant ongoing and sustained contributions to RBHS.

  • Eldo Kuzhikandathil (Brain Health Institute), Executive Director of Administration

Team Award

For exceptional contributions of a high-performing team to carry out work in at least one of the RBHS mission areas.

  • NJMS Research With A Heart
    • New Jersey Medical School: Eric G. Asencio (Research Coordinator), Asha Chintala (Clinical Research Associate), Zoraida Cruz (Clinical Research Coordinator II), Malithi DeSilva (Clinical Research Coordinator II), Rachel Ford (Clinical Trials Resource Specialist), D’Ajanai Lee (Research Associate III), Jared Jehaz Khan (Research Coordinator), Jennifer Punsal (Program Coordinator)
  • RSDM Holocaust Survivor Program
    • Rutgers School of Dental Medicine: Andrea West (Chief Operating Officer), Howard Drew (Vice Chair and Professor of Department of Periodontics), Michael Conte (Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs), John Moran (Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Sciences), Carolina Vega (Dental Comprehensive Care Coordinator), Tayri Leon (Patient Representative)

Sustained Service Award

For significant, sustained contributions to quality service that supports at least one of the mission areas at RBHS.

  • Carol Rayside (Rutgers Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies), Executive Assistant, Center for Tobacco Studies
  • Marianne Shen (Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy), Business Manager, Office of the Dean
  • Gloria Bailey (New Jersey Medical School), Department Administrator, Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine
  • Matthew Iozzio (Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research), Associate Director of Finance and Administration
  • Margaret Koller (Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research), Executive Director, Center for State Health Policy
  • Yaritsa Villegas (School of Nursing), Assistant Registrar – Undergraduate, Office of the Registrar

And, to cap off all the special awards:

Lifetime Distinguished Service Award

For exceptional, distinguished service to RBHS through extraordinary, transformative, and/or significant lifetime contributions to the institution.

  • Linda Loughman Tanzer (Cancer Institute of New Jersey), Chief Financial and Administrative Officer

Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Award

For a sustained and distinguished lifetime record of achievement in at least one of the RBHS mission areas (clinical care, education, research, community engagement).

  • Alfred F. Tallia (Robert Wood Johnson Medical School), Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Congratulations to all the honorees and thank you so much, again, to all those who took the time to make and review the nominations.

Sincerely,

Bishr Omary
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Research
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences

Brian Strom
Chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Rutgers University