General Article
February
6, 2003
"Accuracy, efficiency and grace"
Respect for co-workers and mission drive Kristie Logan,
Appelbaum's administrative manager for last 10 years
 Kristie Logan confers with Dr. Fred Appelbaum, who is, among other posts, director of the Clinical Research Division, about his schedule. Photo by Todd McNaught |
By BRAD BROBERG
Dr. Fred Appelbaum wears many hats. And Kristie Logan keeps them all in a row.
Appelbaum is the director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson. But he's also executive director of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and heads the Medical Oncology Division at the University Washington.
He also chairs the Board of Scientific Advisers for the National Cancer Institute. Toss in his patient care and research work, and it's easy to see how Appelbaum's schedule could spin out of control.
Fortunately for Appelbaum - and those who need to reach him - Logan won't let it.
As Appelbaum's administrative manager, Logan has been helping her boss be in the right place at the right time - with the right hat - for the last 10 years. Coordinating Appelbaum's communications, managing his calendar and arranging his travel is "a nonstop jugging routine," she said.
But Logan's duties don't stop there. She also acts as liaison between Appelbaum and center faculty on critical issues - many of them highly sensitive - and performs myriad tasks associated with hosting symposiums, lectures, faculty recruitment visits and other special events.
What's more, Logan takes on special projects, including helping coordinate the Adult Leukemia Research Center program project grant (the last competing renewal was 1,068 pages), organizing the division's External Advisory Committee meetings and helping Appelbaum edit a textbook.
"I could do this same type of work for a lot of different places, but the fact that I'm able to help support the Hutch makes it so much more rewarding," Logan said. "Working with such dedicated people makes it fun. I have so much respect for the scientists, the patient-care staff and administrators here and how we all contribute to the Hutch mission."
Besides directly supporting Appelbaum, Logan also backs up Agnes O'Connor, the division administrator, and supervises three other members of Appelbaum's office staff and two administrators.
Everything possible
Logan and her team do everything possible to help the nine faculty members they support focus on treating patients and conducting research instead of getting mired in clerical details. Their duties range from scheduling meetings to coordinating grants, scientific protocols and research papers to fielding all manner of calls from the public - including, in one unusual phone call, an offer to donate a corpse.
Such a call may be rare, but it's not unusual for the division to be the first place the public turns for answers to medical concerns or questions, Logan said. While the division may be the wrong place to start, staff make sure callers end up in the right place. "We triage a tremendous volume of calls," she said.
In Logan's case, the role of telephone traffic cop is made doubly challenging by Appelbaum's status as a global leader cancer research - a role that places him in high demand among fellow scientists as well as the general public. Whether they've heard Appelbaum speak, read something he wrote or simply know his reputation, people seek and value his opinion and expertise.
"He gets so many requests on so many levels," Logan said. "People say, 'We'll call Appelbaum. He'll know what to do.' "
Before they reach Appelbaum, however, chances are they'll talk to Logan. She often is the first contact for patients and callers from the National Institutes of Health, Congress, foreign governments, professional organizations and the media.
Sometimes, she can help people get the information they need from someone other than Appelbaum. If not, she'll find a place for them on his schedule.
Appelbaum appreciates Logan's many contributions. "It is virtually impossible for me to overstate Kristie's value to me personally and to the division," he said. "She is able to handle an extremely large volume of work with accuracy, efficiency and grace. She does a wonderful job communicating with fellow workers and represents me, the division and the center extremely well to the outside world."
Logan was office manager for a small business when she decided to apply for a job at the center. At the time, Pam Weinberg was administrator of the Clinical Research Division, and Logan's mother, Pat Logan, was her administrative assistant.
"My mom would come home and tell me everything that was happening at the Hutch," Logan said. "It sounded like a great place to work."
Noting Logan's sense of humor and "instinctive good judgment," Appelbaum initially hired Logan to assist him in his role as associate editor of Blood Journal as well as support his work as a member of the division faculty. Six months later, Appelbaum became the division's new director, and Logan became his executive assistant.
Family connection
When Logan arrived at the center, she and her mother, who has since retired, worked on different floors, with different groups. When Appelbaum became division director, they ended up working within the same office. "We never expected that to happen," she said, "but it all worked out."
Logan said that raising her three children - now all grown - was the best preparation for her job because she learned how to respond when things don't go exactly as planned.
"Parenthood is not something you put on a resume, but it teaches you to be a leader, set an example - and clean up messes," she said with a laugh.
