PHS manager gets patriotic employer award

Brief

The U.S. Department of Defense and the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve recently recognized the Center's Charles Trakarnsilpa with a Patriotic Employer Award. Trakarnsilpa, information technology manager for the Public Health Sciences Division's Cancer Prevention Program, supervises Ryan Cueto, an Army reservist who was deployed to the Middle East for a year and returned to the Center last January.

Cueto, an IT systems specialist, nominated his supervisor and the Center for the award because of the consistent support given to him during his deployment and annual reservist training. During Cueto's absence, Trakarnsilpa and colleagues sent him care packages, letters and e-mails, and set up a new office for him when the department moved to the Arnold Building.

"I look at this award as a symbol of the Center's commitment and dedication not only to research and science, but also to its men and women in uniform," Cueto said. "Being in Iraq away from my family, friends, work and especially the freedom we all enjoy here on the home front was one of the biggest challenges I've ever had to face. The correspondence I received from everyone meant a lot. It reassured me that I was in their thoughts even though I was thousands of miles away."

Cueto completed his eight-year military commitment last October. There are three other Center employees currently on military leave.

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