People Proud: ARUP Awards and Recognition

Tracy George, MD, President and Chief Scientific Officer

ARUP President and Chief Scientific Officer Tracy George, MD, cofounded the American Initiative in Mast Cell Diseases (AIM) with the goal of creating a platform for interdisciplinary research on mastocytosis and related mast cell diseases. In May 2022, AIM held its annual Physician and Investigator Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. George played an integral role by hosting events at ARUP and offering a premeeting lab workshop to educate participants on testing for mast cell disorders.

Sandy Richman, MBA, C(ASCP), ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services Director, and Dave Shiembob, MBA, C(ASCP)^CM, ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services Supervisor

Sandy Richman, MBA, C(ASCP), director of ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services (AHAS), accepted the 2021 Choosing Wisely Champion Award on behalf of the AHAS team. AHAS developed AnalyticsDx^TM dashboards, which help clients choose holistic laboratory testing for their patients while eliminating duplicate or unnecessary tests. These dashboards are consistently used by healthcare facilities to optimize care and reduce costs for patients. During the past three years, the AHAS team has completed more than a dozen consulting projects, helping healthcare facilities save more than $700,000 annually.

Mark Kushnir, PhD, Scientific Director of Research and Development (R&D) Mass Spectrometry (MS)

Mark Kushnir, PhD, scientific director of Research and Development (R&D) Mass Spectrometry (MS), was awarded the 2021 Al Yergey Mass Spectrometry Scientist Award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry for his leadership in adopting tandem MS. He has developed numerous MS clinical assays, including a novel assay for 25-hydroxy vitamin D. Over the course of his distinguished career, he has published more than 100 papers, collaborated with other researchers, and acted as a member of various editorial boards.

Kelly Doyle, PhD, DABCC, FAACC, Medical Director of Special Chemistry and Endocrinology

Kushnir and Kelly Doyle, PhD, DABCC, FAACC, medical director of Special Chemistry and Endocrinology, were awarded the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Endocrinology Division Abstract Award based on the abstract for their poster entitled, “Free or Total Testosterone? Assessment of Androgens Status in Reproductive Age Females.” They will present the poster at the annual AACC conference in late July.

Tom Martins, MS, Lead Scientist in the R&D Immunology Group

Tom Martins, MS, lead scientist in the R&D Immunology Group, was awarded the Paul E. Strandjord Young Investigator Award from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS). ACLPS chose Martins based on his authorship of the abstract entitled, “Development of an Automated Complement C5 Functional Assay for Personalized Monitoring of Patients on C5 Inhibitors,” which will be published in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

Karen A. Moser, MD, Medical Director of the Hemostasis/Thrombosis Laboratory

Karen A. Moser, MD, medical director of the Hemostasis/Thrombosis Laboratory, was awarded the 2021 Joseph A. Knight Award for Excellence in Education from the University of Utah Department of Pathology for her outstanding contributions to medical education at the U. In her time as a U faculty member, Moser has served as a course director for first-year medical students, a leader in medical school curriculum development, and director of an elective clinical pathology rotation for third- and fourth-year medical students.

Lisa Carricaburu, MBA, Director of Marketing Communications and Clinical Decision Support

Lisa Carricaburu, MBA, director of Marketing Communications and Clinical Decision Support, was recognized as a Bridge Builder in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards for 2022 for her integral role in communications during the pandemic. Carricaburu managed the production of crucial, time-sensitive COVID-19 content, including 15 podcasts, more than 50 articles, and 11 educational webinars. She also undertook a large-scale initiative to improve perceptions of ARUP’s leadership internally by establishing weekly communications from the CEO and a feedback portal for employees.

Jonathan Genzen, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer

Chérie Petersen, Distance Education Program Lead, ARUP Institute for Learning

Matt Pool, Education and Event Lead, ARUP Institute for Learning

ARUP was awarded two Gold Viddy Awards for educational videos developed and narrated by Jonathan Genzen, MD, PhD, chief medical officer. The videos were filmed and edited by Matt Pool, education and event lead in ARUP’s Institute for Learning, and produced by Chérie Petersen, distance education program lead for ARUP’s Institute for Learning. In the videos, Genzen explains how Moderna, Pfizer BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines work, with the timely goal of educating the public about COVID-19 vaccines.

Brian Jackson, MD, MS, Medical Director of Support Services, IT, and Business Development

Julio Delgado, MD, MS, Executive Vice President

ARUP won another Gold Viddy Award for a LabMind podcast episode dedicated to laboratory leadership, which features a conversation between Julio Delgado, MD, MS, executive vice president, and podcast host Brian Jackson, MD, MS, medical director of Support Services, IT, and Business Development. In the podcast, produced by Chérie Petersen, the discussion between Jackson and Delgado highlights various struggles faced by the laboratory industry during the early months of the pandemic, with the goal of emphasizing the importance of laboratory medicine to a general audience.

ARUP Laboratories

ARUP won an honorable mention in the national Employee Communications Awards presented by Ragan Communications. ARUP earned recognition in the contest’s COVID-19 Communication category for messaging delivered early in the pandemic. Ragan recognized ARUP for introducing a daily CEO email to update employees on operations, safety, and health resources. The honorable mention also was based on the COVID-19 pages created and updated repeatedly on Nucleus and the COVID-19 Exposure/Symptom Reporting Tool built to help the Family Health Clinic monitor employees’ health.