The uOttawa Faculty of Medicine celebrated Staff Appreciation Week with a series of events held from December 6 to 10, 2021.
Among the highlights were an online Ugly Sweater Contest held Friday, and an online cookie recipe exchange with mouthwatering submissions (Sharepoint access required). There’s still time to submit your cookie recipe!
Other highlights included in-person and virtual yoga sessions on Tuesday, a special food truck appearance by Guimauverie at the RGN terrace on Wednesday, skating at TD Place Arena on Thursday, and a special showing of the classic film La Guerre des Tuques at RGN on Friday.
Thank you to everyone who participated in these events!
Faculty of Medicine Support Staff Awards of Excellence 2021
To kick off Staff Appreciation Week, the 2021 Faculty of Medicine Support Staff Awards of Excellence were handed out during a special virtual award ceremony on Monday, December 6. Nominated by their peers in a variety of categories, award-winning staff were acknowledged and celebrated by Dean Bernard Jasmin and Associate Dean Alireza Jalali. Learn more about the contributions of winning staff members below, as described in the nominations from their peers. Excerpts have been edited for length.
Two of these award-winning teams also won University of Ottawa President’s Awards. They’re marked with an asterisk (*).
As part of the event, staff reaching milestones of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service in 2020 and 2021 were also celebrated. Their names are listed below.
Please join us in congratulating the following award winners!
Education – Individual Award
Alexandre Messager
Manager, Human Resources and Faculty/Clinical Leadership Development
Alexandre is a sought-after specialist and innovative leadership facilitator at the Faculty. He is regularly praised for his valuable vision of what it means to be an effective leader. He provides concrete tools, approaches, and strategies to address challenges and train residents, research associates, staff, and peers. Alexandre has introduced new cutting-edge topics for discussion within the Faculty, including the role of cognitive diversity, cultural intelligence and psychological safety.
Education – Team Award
The Office of Continuing Professional Development (OCPD)
The OCPD team has made incredible contributions to the Faculty over the past year. They support the Faculty at all levels, including by providing logistical support for countless events organized by various offices, and by providing high quality medical education and faculty development trainings to faculty members. The OCPD quickly adjusted from in-person to virtual events, learning how to use sophisticated technologies and overcoming numerous obstacles. They maintain highly professional working relationships with those who they support and they go out of their way to ensure satisfaction.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Individual Award
Lisa Abel
Program Manager, Strategic Planning and Implementation
Lisa provides a strong voice for the underrepresented, and works diligently towards the removal of systemic barriers and biases so that all individuals at the Faculty and University may have equal opportunities. Lisa has worked on establishing the Centre for Indigenous Health Research and Education, sits on many Faculty, University and national committees, led annual Indigenous celebrations for new learners, ensured every staff and faculty member had access to cultural safety training, and led the first ever Truth and Reconciliation Week of Events at the Faculty.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Individual Award
Bonnie Thornbury
Support Staff, School of Epidemiology and Public Health
Bonnie is the staff representative on the School of Epidemiology and Public Health (SEPH) Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) committee and has been instrumental in shaping the EDI strategic direction within SEPH. Their ideas pushed the committee to think differently, to aim higher, and to be bold. Bonnie has created, nurtured and sustained a more equitable, diverse and inclusive community. They coordinated micro-training opportunities and a series of short videos during school assemblies, which have led to measurable changes in how SEPH does business.
Research – Individual Award
Gina Campbell
Manager, Research Shared Services & Anatomy Division
Gina has been a rock during a time of change within the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the other basic science departments. In 2018, she was given the responsibility of creating and implementing the Faculty’s vision of a Research Shared Services (RSS) model, the centralization of administrative functions. Gina's organization of the RSS project focused on the individual strengths and talents of her team, which helped them to feel enthusiastic and empowered.
Service Excellence – Individual Award
Sandeep Patnaik
Manager, Project Management Office
Sandeep is an integral part of the Faculty’s information technology progress and success. Sandeep has been able to apply his deep knowledge of IT and project management expertise to create real progress and improvements, including improving the Faculty’s security posture, implementing new systems, mentoring other IT professionals, ensuring good IT governance, and securing the delight and trust of his clients. He consistently demonstrates perseverance, professionalism and courage when confronted with complex issues and seizes challenges with an enviable passion and energy.
Service Excellence – Team Award
The Office of Marketing and Communications (MarCom)
MarCom has seen a significant change in the scale and breadth of its activities. In 2020, the FoM’s 75th anniversary required a major editorial scheduling initiative, complete with media, story and website development strategies. During the pandemic, MarCom worked with hospital partners to ensure timely communication, and wrote over 50 COVID-related web stories. MarCom continues to lead the Faculty Experience Team and is actively exploring new forms of engagement to boost the Faculty’s reputation on the world stage.
Wellness – Team Award
*Faculty Wellness Program
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Faculty Wellness Program team has demonstrated remarkable resilience. Their unflappable commitment to the wellness of our students, residents, trainees, and faculty have not gone unnoticed. Their contributions have been far-reaching in nature, whether it be in the form of counselling, workshops, and researching countless resources and supports for their clients. This team has taken on many new projects and has implemented numerous wellness initiatives in the hopes of creating a healthier working and learning environment for all.
Francophonie – Team Award
*Francophone Affairs
Francophone Affairs collaborates with several Faculty and university departments. They recently launched the "Retro Action Franco" project, aimed at improving the quality of French at the Faculty. They are working on expanding the number of French-language programs offered. They have also played a leading role in the creation of a Pharmacy PhD program, and the review of the Master of Health Education program, offered in collaboration with the Faculty of Education. Training opportunities have since expanded and tripled.
Innovation – Team Award
Laboratory Staff – COVID-19 High-Throughput Serology Facility
At the start of the pandemic, Dr. Langlois’ lab pivoted its research focus toward SARS-CoV-2. They received a grant to set up a national facility to measure antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in blood. This facility was designed to support large-scale COVID-19 research projects by researchers across Canada as well as in various Government agencies. Saying that this was a herculean task is a massive understatement given that there was no infrastructure in place at uOttawa to perform analyses at this magnitude - this facility was set-up from scratch within 4 months. This high throughput facility is now one of the two largest in Canada.
Social Accountability – Individual Award
Lois Crowe
Program Manager, Social Accountability
Since Lois’s arrival, the Social Accountability program has grown exponentially, with an emphasis on meaningful engagement. To this end, Lois has worked to simplify remuneration processes for community partners, collaborated with and developed new placements for community service learning organizations, championed a grants and awards program that embeds social accountability into research opportunities for learners at all levels, and developed new relationships with community organizations such as retirement homes, the Ottawa Community Foundation, and the City of Ottawa.
Sustainability – Team Award
Josianne Bougie
Anne-Marie Maheu
This team has led an initiative which allows the Faculty of Medicine and the University to reduce their ecological footprint. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in the consumption of disposable personal protective equipment (PPE). As of June 2020, the federal government estimated that approximately 63,000 tons of COVID-19-related PPE would end up as waste. Faced with this serious issue, the group launched the PPE Recycling Program at the Roger Guindon Hall on March 15, 2021. To date, the program has recycled the equivalent of 120 lbs (54.4 kg) of single-use PPE.
2020 Years of Service Award Recipient:
15 years: Virginie Albert, Geneviève Côté, Gilles Coupal, Louise Gagné, Karen Hopkins, Manon Levesque, Li Li, Eric Prendergast, Li Zhang, Mei Zhang
10 years: Mufida Alazzabi, Maria Cannataro, Charlene Clow, Megan Fortier, Marie-Florence Lafontant, Eric Lehoux, Janice Mayne, Zahra Montazeri, Geneviève Paris, Nathalie Pellerin-Tessier, Donna Williams
5 years: Kelsea Anstey, Genevieve Brazeau, Lynn Chaaban, Diane Cyr, M'omena Dawood, Pasquale Donovan, Catherine Dumoulin, James Edwards, Zhihao Guo, Lynne Holman, Shi Simon Huang, Genevieve Laroche, Carole Lefebvre, Jason Lemieux, Kyle Leon, Monika MacLaren, Sophia Pacheco, Julie Paquette, Cassandre Pretorius, Carl Sarazin, Desiree Stone, Suzanne Surgeson, James Taylor
2021 Years of Service Award Recipients:
40 years: Serge Bisson
35 years: Nancy Chicoine, Sylvie Critch
30 years: Jasmine Carchidi
25 years: Shannon Goodwin, Claudine Peabody, Zaida Ticas
20 years: Normand Charlebois, Li Dong, Liette Greyeyes, Jifu He, Nina Lebel, Mariane Tremblay
15 years: Yi Huo, Éric Larouche, Anne-Marie Maheu, Marylee McCormick, Chantal Renaud, Catherine St-Louis, Luanne Waddell, Jian Xuan
10 years: Richard Bédard, Josée Brière, Gina Campbell, Raoul Freddy Chatue Tonga, Celina Demers, Safaa El-Bialy, Dominic Gauthier, Shawna Grosskleg, Jennifer Petkovic, Asiya Rolston, Evin Sezer-Hepcanli
5 years: Jennifer Dale, Natalia Danilovich, Sharlene Faulkes, Thierry Gibeault, Shannon Hillier, Daniel Hubert, Monika Joshi, Marjan Khalili Mahani, Chandra Landry, Meghan Marcotte, Nikhila Menon Narayanankutty , Michelle Read, Alexandre Savard, Katherine Scowcroft, Jennifer Therrien, Philippe Thomson, Chloë Van Oostende-Triplet, Kerry Winnemore, Yingben Xue
