Sammies Honored at the White House

President Barack Obama met with the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalists and winners in the East Room of the White House, October 23, 2013. Receiving the top honor of “Federal Employee of the Year” was the team comprising Deputy Hospital Epidemiologist Julie Segre (NHGRI), David Henderson (CC), Tara Palmore (CC), and Evan Snitkin (NHGRI). The award citation reads: “Stopped the spread of a deadly hospital-acquired infection through the first-ever use of genome sequencing to identify the source and trace the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, creating a groundbreaking model for the health care industry.”

Sammies finalists included Deputy Director for Intramural Research Michael Gottesman for “seminal studies in the treatment of drug-resistant cancer cells and play[ing] an instrumental role in improving the rigor of medical research” and NIDA Director Nora Volkow for “demonstrat[ing] that drug addiction is a disease that changes brain function and creat[ing] new strategies for treating patients with substance abuse issues.”

For more information, go to http://servicetoamericamedals.org/SAM/recipients/profiles/fym13_segre-palmore.shtml. To read the NIH Catalyst story on the work of the Segre team, go to https://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v20i6/intramural-detectives.