Lois Edblad
Lois started her employment with the University in 1991 and has been with the Institute for Human Genetics since January 2006. Lois is part of a small staff group in the IHG and her position has many different functions including providing support in human resources, accounting and meeting coordination. Her nominator describes her as the main "go-to" person for IHG. Despite a very full plate and many conflicting deadlines, she is always quick to help lighten the load of her co-workers with tight administrative deadlines. She accomplishes this with a combination of professionalism and humor. She is a very positive member of the team who remains focused on building a solid organization. Lois sets a great example and a high standard for her co-workers.
According to her supervisor, she is a delight to supervise because she is resourceful, curious and systems-focused. Additionally, she is a team player who works above and beyond the scope of her duties on a daily basis. Particularly noteworthy examples of her commitment to IHG are helping postdoctoral fellows hone presentation skills, and ensuring postdoctoral and faculty recruit candidates have organized and meaningful visits. When asked what she finds most fulfilling about her job, her response is the professionalism and knowledge base of the people and systems and her ability to continue life long learning. She feels she was chosen for this recognition because "people believe in showing appreciation" and is thankful to the people who nominated her.
Rhonda Jones
Rhonda has been providing patient care at the University for a total of 14 years. She has been in her current job with the Department of Medicine-SFGH-AIDS for 7 years now. She considers herself a mother to all 3,000 patients they provide care for at the AIDS unit and this is what she finds most fulfilling about her job. As her nominator says, "she seems to remember almost everybody's face!" And adds, "if the patient is new, she makes them feel welcome and takes time to explain the registration process and other routines. If the patient has been out of care, she "scolds" them in a motherly and humorous way. If the patient is acutely sick, she will instantly find the triage nurse. If the patient is upset, she uses humor and gives support to calm them. Regardless of the situation, she always remains calm and pleasant." Her supervisor highly supports this recognition and says that "she is great with patients and has great people skills".
She also provides support to the health care providers in collecting, reviewing, and monitoring completed billing sheets. And if these are incompleted, she returns it to them with comments. She does this with great humor and grace so that nobody ever feels "nagged" by her. Rhonda will go to great lengths to resolve logistical problems people may encounter. She will take ownership of an issue, find the resolution, and then let the person know what she discovered. She also shows solid and consistent devotion to the job and work group and inspires others to excel. According to her nominator, "it is impossible to work close to somebody who is so relentlessly positive, funny, warm, compassionate, and non-judgmental and NOT be inspired. Rhonda is highly infectious in the best possible meaning of that word".
Ellen Liebenberg
Ellen has been with the University since 1977. She currently works as a staff research associate for the Orthopaedic Surgery. As the only full-time histologist, Ellen collaborates with nearly everyone in the lab at some point during their tenure. Ellen is a great co-worker, says one of her nominators. In addition to being precise and efficient, she is very easy to work with and gives and receives constructive criticism very easily. She is also curious and diligent. One example of this is when a co-worker had difficulty identifying a pathological condition in a piece of bone that was used for her research. Although it was not related to her research project, Ellen conducted histological analyses and coordinated exams with research pathologists at Mt. Zion until she figured out the pathology--a process that took nearly 1 month.
In addition to her research work, Ellen serves as the “voice of reason” in the lab--whether it is counseling a student who is frustrated with her research progress or giving helpful hints on how to best interact with faculty and staff members. She is particularly encouraging with students who are struggling academically or socially in the lab environment, and, in doing so, has ensured that many women and minority students succeeded in graduate school. Another nominator echoes this feedback as well, “One of Ellen’s many strong qualities is that she is always available to dispense knowledge which helped a lot of her peers strive for a better future. And concludes, it’s an honor to work with someone as knowledgeable as she is”.
Through her volunteer work, Ellen is also an unofficial ambassador for UCSF to the Bay Area community. She frequently gives lectures and demonstrations on her research work in biomechanics and histology to middle and high school students in her hometown of Livermore.
Concetta Joan Schroepfer
Concetta, best known as Connie in her department, has been with Renal Center, SFGH for more than 10 years working as a dietitian. Due to the vacancy of the other dietitian position, Connie serves as the only dietitian in the Renal Center providing care to Hemodialysis patients. She has taken on many additional hours to cover the time previously covered by the vacant position. She shoulders the responsibility for 110 dialysis patients’ dietary needs and education based on their laboratory results. According to her nominator, "in her own time, Connie finds time to research appropriate food products and contacts companies for samples to give to the patients. These are often culturally sensitive food samples for the patients to try and hopefully include in their renal diet. She is always thinking about what’s best for the patients". And adds, "she is always upbeat and friendly and a pleasure to work with".
Her long time relationships with patients are what Connie enjoys the most. Being able to help patients adjust to living with dialysis and to help improve their health is what she finds most fulfilling. What she enjoys about Renal Nutrition is the continuing challenge of staying current with the developments in Nutrition and Renal issues, and applying this knowledge to renal nutrition practice. She enjoys the challenge of translating the science to effectively assessing and teaching an individual patient. She likes considering all the factors that could be contributing to a patient's lab results and helping them make needed changes in their dietary and medication routines.
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