Awards

Each year the Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service makes several awards:

• Branch of the Year Award
• Health Leader of the Year Award
• JD Lane Junior Investigator & Clinical Society Open Awards
• John C. Villforth Leadership Award
• Lucille Woodville Memorial Award
• Mabel May Wagner Nursing Award
• Responder of the Year Award
• The Robert Brutsche Award

Health Leader of the Year Award

COA Health Leader of the Year Award was established in 1987 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions to the health of the Nation. Contributions can be in research, administration, service delivery, or some other area of public health. Past recipients of the Health Leader of the Year Award include:

VADM James A. Zimble
Dr. Julie Geberding
RADM Kenneth Moritsugu
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson
ADM James Mason
RADM Brian W. Flynn
Dr. Ada Sue Hinshaw
RADM Barry Johnson
Senator John Warner
RADM Samuel Broder
Dr. Francis Collins
VADM C. Everett Koop
RADM William Roper
Dr. John Lewin
RADM Anthony Fauci
VADM Antonia Novello
Senator Bill Frist

Branch of the Year Award

The Commissioned Officers Association Board of Directors recognizes exceptional accomplishments of a COA Branch at each annual Meeting of the Assembly. Any branch not recognized at the most recent meeting is eligible for consideration. The Board may elect not to make an award in any given year.

In making its decision, the Board considers the following factors:

• Percentage of officers in the local area who are COA members
• Frequency of Branch meetings
• Degree of participation and scope of topics presented at general meetings of the Branch
• Positive and/or negative feedback on Branch activities received by the national COA office
• Responsiveness of Branch officers members to requests for information, administrative documentation, proxy selection, etc. as requested by the national COA office
• Extent of Branch participation in the Meeting of the Assembly (e.g. presenting resolutions, participating in committees, etc.)

JD Lane Junior Investigator & Clinical Society Open Awards

The annual COA Investigator Awards are made to outstanding investigators for the most significant contributions in research and/or clinical health experience. This competition is open to all PHS health professionals, Commissioned Corps and Civil Service. The work must be principally that of the investigator and must be presented by him/her. It must represent work performed while in the PHS, which may include outside the service training. Investigations conducted prior to PHS appointment do not qualify. Finalists will be selected on the basis of their written manuscripts and will be judged on the following criteria:

• Originality of the author's approach to the topic
• Pertinence of the topic to the mission of the PHS and/or the specific discipline, agency or program concerned
• Clarity of statement of the question or the issues involved, and of the conclusion
• Contribution of the paper to the useful knowledge base of the audience

A $200 award and engraved plaque will be presented in the following categories:

Clinical Society Open Award - Awarded to any investigator.

J.D. Lane Junior Investigator Award - Awarded to an investigator for work conducted no more than four years following completion of training.  

How to Enter This Competition :

Two copies of the complete manuscript for this paper, including charts and tables, should be mailed to:

Commissioned Officers Association
8201 Corporate Drive, Suite 200
Landover, MD 20785

This award will be presented at the 2006 annual conference in Denver.

Responder of the Year Award

In October of each year, COA publishes a call for nominations in their newsletter, asking that each Chief Professional Officer submit one nomination for an officer to be considered for the Commissioned Corps Responder of the Year Award. These nominations are received by the Director of the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment no later than close of business on December 31 of that year. Nominees must be active duty or retired members of the Commissioned Corps of the USPHS. In February of the following year, a selection committee convenes to review nominations and select the award winner.

Criteria considered are:

• One-time impact on public health preparedness and response
• Career contributions to emergency preparedness and/or disaster response
• Nominee’s role in deployments and the impact thereof
• Training and education applicable to preparedness and response
• Publications and presentations in the public arena related to preparedness and response
• The nominee’s willingness to give credit to the U.S. Public Health Service for deployment activities

John C. Villforth Leadership Award

The John C. Villforth Leadership Award recognizes U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps engineering officers and civil service architects and engineers working in the Department of Health and Human Services; whose service in the public trust meet high ethical standards and is in the best interest of the public's health. The award honors those individuals who demonstrate exemplary professional conduct and are committed to constant improvement, exhibiting the highest degree of character, technical excellence and competence. The award is presented to individuals who exemplify and excel in leadership either as individuals or as a team, in carrying out the mission of the engineers and architects of the USPHS.

Mabel May Wagner Nursing Award

Consideration for this award, which includes a plaque and $1,000 award, is open to all professional nurses in the PHS (Commissioned Corps and Civil Service) with an active RN license on file (see below).

The recipient of the Mabel May Wagner Nursing Award should be one who:

• Evidences resourcefulness and dedication in helping to accomplish the mission of the PHS;
• Demonstrates professional and technical skills and competence raising the quality of nursing;
• Shows evidence of exceptional ability to apply nursing standards of practice;
• Remains involved in continuing education as a participant, organizer or sponsor; and
• Is of such excellence as to merit Public Health Service recognition.  

How to Make a Nomination for the Mabel May Wagner Nursing Award:

• The nominations for the award may be made by an HHS employee or employee where the nurse officer is detailed, in the form of a letter containing:
• Name, title and grade of the nominee;
• Work experience and educational background of the nominee;
• Brief description of the nominee's present duties and responsibilities, including the scope of work;
• Narrative statement of how the person meets the criteria for the award, including a description of the specific accomplishments and/or contributions on which the nomination is based;
• Must state, in writing, that the individual is in good standing and has an active RN license on file (for Commissioned Corps officers must be on file with DCP); and
• An endorsement by the nominee's supervisor (responsible for ensuring the candidate's good standing and work performance) and the final verification (for the recommended award recipient) will be by the Chief Nurse Officer (who will check with DCP to ensure that there are no outstanding actions and that an active license is on file).

Send nominations to the Mabel May Wagner Nursing Award Selection Committee, c/o COA, 8201 Corporate Drive, Ste. 200, Landover, Maryland 20785.  

The deadline for receipt of nominations is to be announced.  

The award will be presented at the 2006 annual conference in Denver.

Lucille Woodville Memorial Award

This award was established in the Public Health Service's (PHS) centennial year as a memorial to the professional career of Lucille Woodville, who began her illustrious career in the Indian Health Service (IHS) in 1956. As a part of her work in IHS, Ms. Woodville established the first Nurse Midwifery Service, in Bethel, Alaska. She retired in 1973, after serving as Assistant Chief (1964-1971) and Chief (1971-1973) of the Maternal Child Health Branch, Division of Indian Health, Health Resources Services Administration, of the PHS.

This award honors a nurse midwife or a maternal/child health nurse whose work has resulted in significant contribution to the health and well being of mothers and newborns. Each nominee must demonstrate outstanding contributions in improving maternal/child health.

How to Make a Nomination for the Lucille Woodville Memorial Award:

Nominations should clearly describe what the nurse accomplished, e.g., the identified problem, the intervention strategy and the results. The impact on the individual client and/or the impact on the health care delivery system should also be described. All nominations must be endorsed by the nominee's supervisor.

Send nominations to the Lucille Woodville Memorial Award Selection Committee, c/o COA, 8201 Corporate Drive, Ste. 200, Landover, Maryland 20785.  

The deadline for receipt of nominations is to be announced.

The award will be presented at the 2006 annual conference in Denver.

The Robert Brutsche Award

Criteria:
Nominees must be a COA member (active duty or retired).

Recipient must have exhibited exceptional commitment to the Board of Directors of the COA of the U.S. Public Health Service by:

Leadership on a one-time project (e.g., the Executive Director Search Committee)

Sustained contributions to the Board of Directors of COA (e.g., committee work, liaison with outside organizations, special initiatives, exemplary work with COA branches)

Selection:
The COA Awards Committee

Presentation:
The award will consist of a plaque bearing a photo-etched likeness of RADM Brutsche and an inscription which outlines the basis for the award and with space for listing the names of the recipients. This would be kept at COA Headquarters. Each recipient would get a paperweight with the inscription from the large plaque and the recipient’s name and date of the award. The recipient would also receive an official letter suitable for the officer’s Official Personnel Folder.

Nominations for the award would be entertained every year, though the award would not necessarily be given every year. The award could be presented at one of the annual Board banquets.

Inscription:
“For Exceptional Service to the Commissioned Officers Association of the United States Public Health Service”