2023 ORA Dragon Service Awards

On April 24, 2023, the Office of Research Administration (ORA) held the fourth ORA Dragon Service Awards. This is part of an ongoing commitment to recognize and celebrate the contributions and achievements of ORA’s staff and members of the Faculty/Research community who demonstrate outstanding partnership with ORA. The winners of this year’s awards were nominated by their peers and faculty partners of ORA and are highlighted below.

Servant Leadership Dragon Award Recipients

The Servant Leader Dragon Award recognizes an ORA staff member at the management level for their exceptional leadership.

  • Janette Hannam Hayes, Director, Office of Sponsor Programs
  • Shara Karlebach, Associate Director, Institutional Review Board
  • Sandra Page, Associate Director, RAS (ABOSS-HSS)
From Left: Dr. Robert Nobles (VPRA), Sandra Page (Awardee), Shara Karlebach (Awardee), Dr. Deborah Bruner (SVPR), Janette Hannam Hayes (Awardee)

 

Staff Excellence Dragon Award Recipients

The Staff Dragon Award recognizes staff members for their outstanding work in multiple performance areas.

  • Grant Bradley, EHS Professional II, Environmental Health and Safety Office
  • Melissa Jackson, EHS Analyst Assistant, Environmental Health and Safety Office
  • Jackson Parker, Lead Research Protocol Analyst, Institutional Review Board
  • Tekla Smith, Project Support Specialist, Office of Research Development

    From Left: Dr. Robert Nobles (VPRA), Jackson Parker (Awardee), Grant Bradley (Awardee), Dr. Deborah Bruner (SVPR), Tekla Smith (Awardee)

Foundational Excellence Dragon Award Recipient

The Foundational Excellence Dragon Award recognizes employees who go above and beyond to ensure office efficiency.

  • Ashley Myers, Training Design/Communications Manager (ORA), Strategic Operations & Training
From Left: Dr. Robert Nobles (VPRA), Ashley Myers (Awardee), Dr. Deborah Bruner (SVPR)

Research Excellence and Collaboration Dragon Award Recipients

The Research Excellence and Collaboration Dragon Award recognizes members of our Research Community for their exemplar partnership with ORA.

  • Lisa Flowers, MD, MPH, FACOG; Professor, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics
  • Steven H. Liang, PhD; Associate Professor, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences
From Left: Dr. Robert Nobles (VPRA), Dr. Steven Liang (Awardee), Dr. Lisa Flowers (Awardee), Dr. Deborah Bruner (SVPR)

Excellence in Faculty Service Award Recipient

The Excellence in Service for Faculty Award recognizes the effort, partnership and collaboration that is required between the Research Administration Units and the Research Community to further our Strategic Framework of One Emory: Engaged for Impact.  In this award category, the nominators were our faculty members working in collaboration with RAS.

  • Al Dowdle, III; Pre-Award Administrator III, RAS – Emory Primate Center

Teaming and Collaboration for Research Excellence Dragon Award Recipient

The Teaming and Collaboration for Research Excellence Dragon Award recognizes a team for coming together to move the research enterprise to greater excellence through quality improvement and/or any of the elements of ONE-ORA.

  • The Environmental Health and Safety Office
The Environmental Health and Safety Office (Awardee)

Whatever it Takes Award Recipient

The Whatever It Takes Award recognizes a staff member or leader who embodies leadership, innovation, character, performance, customer service and collaboration.  Someone who consistently goes above and beyond to deliver timely, effective, and friendly service.

  • Craig Baker, Environmental Health and Safety Professional III, Environmental Health and Safety Office
From Left: Dr. Deborah Bruner (SVPR), Craig Baker (Awardee), Dr. Robert Nobles (VPRA)