2022 Recipients

1st Quarter

Administrative 

Jessica Makosky, MA, Classroom Connectivity Support Manager 

Administrative, Athens Campus 

"Jessica has been wonderful over the years.  She has been on call for OMM CME events on weekends.  She has such a calm and caring demeanor.  I had heard that Cleveland is nominating Mike W.  (He's been great too).  Jess has been so many things to so many people.  Her dedication to HCOM, despite staffing shortages, is very much appreciated.  I can't thank her enough for her excellence, integrity, and technologic troubleshooting.  She goes above and beyond her call of duty.  She has met with guest presenters I have invited on weekends to ensure they are comfortable on Zoom/Teams.  Thank you for considering her, even if she's been awarded before!"

"Each week, the OMET team scrubs our curriculum calendar to ensure that we are prepared to support the curriculum for each week.  Today, during our scrub, I was in awe and amazed at the amount of work and organization, as well as care, that Jess puts into her work to ensure a positive experience for students and faculty.  Over the last 2 years, Jess' job has grown increasingly more complex as she now has to coordinate not only classrooms, but students and faculty joining remotely.  When others get a "break", Jess still works to ensure she is organized and ready to support the next term's curriculum.  Her role has taken on a new form, and she has shown a vast amount of leadership on the OMET team to make sure we are operating smoothly.  She meets routinely with the curriculum and faculty teams and is a very trusted person at HCOM.  The OMET team would be truly lost without Jess' efforts, especially after the last two years and specifically for this next term to ensure a great experience for all, no matter how they are joining a classroom learning activity.  Thank you, Jess, you are SO appreciated!!"

Classified

Jill Richmond, Administrative Specialist 

Classified, Athens Campus 

"Jill Richmond bears much responsibility at work every day and I have a huge appreciation for her. Jill is likely the one person who sees every single prep guide and handles every PowerPoint file for every activity in PHWC. Not only does she shepherd these prep guides to completion, she puts all the learning materials into eMedley. She makes sure that files are in the right place, and answer keys or announcements are released at the right time. When there are last minute updates or revisions, she easily takes care of those too. There are what feels like a million variables in PHWC, and I think Jill handles about half of them. She handles critically important tasks without much fanfare. Nobody is perfect, and on rare occasions when a task doesn’t go perfectly, everyone notices. That shows me how important Jill is and she handles all of this with a lot of strength and humility. Jill Richmond is a key player in PHWC, and her tireless work deserves to be recognized, and a CARE Award is the way to show her that we appreciate her work."

Faculty 

Wei Ming Duan, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Instruction

Faculty, Cleveland Campus 

"Dr. Duan goes above and beyond to be an outstanding professor and mentor. He goes out of his way to teach students on his own time. Every year, he leads the brain dissection on the Cleveland campus. He does this by preparing the cadavers and removing the brain so they will be ready for students. He also provides students the opportunity to remove the brain with him and he teaches you every step of the process. Dr. Duan is an amazing professor and really cares for his students. He takes the time to ensure that each student knows the anatomy, highlighting important structures and their clinical relevance. I truly believe I would not understand or appreciate anatomy as well as I do if it wasn't for Dr. Duan."

"Dr. Duan is an amazing Anatomy professor. He very knowledgeable, always willing to explain things and answer questions. He's very patient with students and gives great studying tips. He's also very nice and although we have masks, you can still see his smile which brightens up your day a student. He's awesome!"

"Dr. Duan is one of my favorite professors! He is always ready and willing to help when we need. His passion for medicine and teaching is evident from the moment you start a conversation with him. He is really great at breaking down the material and emphasizing what we really need to focus on. Whenever we've talked, I always walk away feeling like I’ve learned something important!"