NCI at Frederick Employees Recognized at the 2013 NCI Director’s Awards Ceremony

By Andrea Frydl, Contributing Writer, and Ashley DeVine, Staff Writer

More than 60 NCI at Frederick government and contractor employees were recognized at the NCI Director’s Awards Ceremony on Nov. 14, held on the main NIH campus in Bethesda.

NIH Merit Group Awards

The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research Website Development Team was recognized for “… outstanding creativity and commitment in the development of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research externally facing website,” according to the NCI Director’s Awards Ceremony program. The team included James Cherry, Ph.D., Julie Hartman, Walter Hubert, Ph.D., and Dianna Kelly, all Office of Scientific Operations, NCI staff members; Frank Blanchard, Leidos Biomedical Research; Jillian Deshazer and Christopher DeVaughn, Data Management Services;  and Susan Fox, Center for Cancer Research, NCI.

The Molecular Targets Group was awarded “for outstanding success in discovering novel natural products that modulate distinct molecular targets in cancer.” The group included NCI staff members John Beutler, Ph.D., Kirk Gustafson, Ph.D., Barry O’Keefe, Ph.D., and James McMahon, Ph.D.; and Leidos Biomed staff members Curtis Henrich, Ph.D. and Girma Woldemichael, Ph.D.

The Mouse Cancer Genetics Program Leadership Team, which included Shyam Sharan, Ph.D., and Lino Tessarollo, Ph.D., NCI, was recognized “for providing exemplary leadership to the Mouse Cancer Genetics Program.”

Kevin Brand, NCI, was recognized as part of the Repository Working Group, “for outstanding leadership to implement a pre-approved Material Transfer Agreement to deposit and obtain research resources from the ATCC repository.”

Laura Hooper, Ph.D., and Diana Linnekin, Ph.D., NCI, were awarded as part of the Centers of Excellence Support Team, “for outstanding administrative support to four of the Centers of Excellence (COE) at the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR).”

Raejean Hermansen, Ph.D., NCI, and Andrea Johnson, Data Management Services, were recognized as part of the Intramural Review SharePoint Site Development Team, “for the design, development, and implementation of the NCI intramural review SharePoint site.”  

Kristen Mistichelli, NCI, was recognized as part of the Shady Grove Information Technology Team, for “… significant efforts to provide the NCI with state-of-the-art information technology capabilities at a reasonable cost to the government.”

Naoko Takebe, M.D., Ph.D., NCI, was awarded as part of the Investigator Handbook Team, for “… service to the oncology community, by producing the ‘2012 Handbook for Clinical Investigators Conducting Therapeutic Clinical Trials Supported by CTEP, DCTD and NCI.’”

The Shady Grove Move Coordinators earned an NCI Appreciation Award for “… outstanding services to the National Cancer Institute … for the 2013 relocation to the NCI Shady Grove facility.” The group included NCI staff members Aaron Condon, Karen Griffin, Elaine Hauschildt, Dana Heckman, Mila Oasan, Barbara Warthen, and Sarah Welch.

Individual Awards  

Dimiter Dimitrov, Ph.D., NCI, was awarded an NIH Merit Award “for groundbreaking antibody discoveries that have saved human lives.”

Esta Sterneck, Ph.D., NCI, was recognized with an NIH Merit Award “for initiating and organizing for over 10 years an outstanding postdoctoral seminar series that fosters mentoring and collaborations between laboratories.”

Michael Dean, Ph.D., NCI, was awarded the Leading Diversity Award.

The NCI Outstanding Mentor Award went to Esta Sterneck, Ph.D., NCI.

Length of Service Awards