Awardee walks in Farwell's footsteps

General Article

Georgia Green of Public Health Sciences Epidemiology wins Margaret Farwell award

Georgia Green, pictured in front of her own art, said Margaret Farwell was a wonderful mentor. Photo by Todd McNaught

Georgia Green, the first and only program administrator for the Public Health Sciences Division's Epidemiology program, has been awarded the 11th annual Margaret T. Farwell Outstanding Career Contributions Award.

Dr. John Potter, division director, announced the award for the 20-year center veteran and called Green a "consistent leader and contributor who's always willing to serve the larger interests of the center while being a passionate advocate for the faculty and staff she serves." He added that she demonstrates empathy and concern for those "in the trenches."

In her long-standing role, Green oversees the $27 million contract for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry and coordinates faculty access to the cancer-incidence database. She was the administrator of the Shanghai Breast Self-Examination Project, one of the center's first international trials and the largest controlled epidemiology study ever conducted. Green has extensive responsibilities for the Shanghai Studies, Prostate Studies, Cancer Surveillance System and the Epidemiology program's research unit. She coordinated several office moves for her department and serves on multiple center committees.

A passion for her work

Reading from several of the 22 nomination letters, Potter cited Green's mature and sensitive interpersonal skills, extensive knowledge of Fred Hutchinson policies and procedures, passion for her work and supportive mentoring.

"Georgia has a great sense of humor, and it is always uplifting to hear her laugh," said Dr. Kathi Malone, associate program head of Epidemiology.

Green tearfully accepted the award plaque and a standing ovation at the April 6 PHS all-staff meeting. "This is just the best," she said. "I love it here. I'm very fortunate because I get to work with smart, creative, funny and fair-minded people, and because PHS values the individual, no matter what level. The people I work with are more than colleagues. They are also friends — a workplace community."

The award, named for the late first PHS division administrator, is given annually to a PHS staff member who embodies Farwell's spirit of excellence and outstanding contributions.

"Margaret was instrumental in me getting hired, and she was a wonderful mentor," Green said of Farwell, with whom she worked during her early years at the center.

The division meeting included an overview of the Computational Proteomics laboratory by Dr. Martin McIntosh, principal investigator for a consortium aiming to develop diagnostic blood tests for cancer. Dirk Petersen, a systems project manager for PHS' shared computing resource, spoke about Subversion, a software platform for implementing revision control.

Division developments

Potter highlighted recent and future division developments, including:

• The renaming of the PHS facility to the Robert M. Arnold Building in honor of the philanthropist's recent $15 million gift to the center, with a dedication ceremony on Aug. 15; 341 active grants and contracts, and pending reviews of 206 applications submitted in November 2004;
• New faculty appointments, including Drs. Robert Gentleman, Li Qin, Ying Chen and Toshiyasu Taniguchi;
• Current faculty recruitment for a genetic epidemiologist and biostatisticians for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and Cancer Prevention;
• Emerging programs in molecular diagnostics, computational biology and global health. The next division all-staff meeting will be held Oct. 26.

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