Think. Teach. Do. Awards Spotlight Stellar Staff.
Think. Teach. Do. Awards Spotlight Stellar Staff
The awards program celebrates staff for embodying SPH’s core mission and values. The latest recipients of the awards are Junjun Tao, Maria Bakas, Heatherly Mitch, Aboli Goghari, Shelli Vodovozov, and Ayesha Khan.
Six School of Public Health staff members received Think. Teach. Do. Staff Awards in the first quarter of 2025 in recognition of their efforts in helping foster a supportive and productive campus culture.
Modeled after SPH’s core purpose, “Think. Teach. Do. For the health of all,” the awards acknowledge staff achievements, behaviors, and examples of a strong work ethic that embody SPH’s core mission and values. It was developed by the Staff Recognition & Awards Subcommittee, an extension of the Staff Senate, in collaboration with Ira Lazic, associate dean for administration and finance.
The program aims to enhance team morale and staff resilience while rewarding staff excellence at the School and is designed to stimulate innovation and novel approaches to work-related tasks and projects that benefit individual departments, SPH, or Boston University as a whole. Awards are given to individuals for each of the three categories on a quarterly basis, and both part-time and full-time staff members are eligible.
Think.
The Think. Award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional innovation in research activities, program development, or the creation or implementation of tools and systems that improve processes at SPH.
Junjun Tao, statistical programmer I at the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center (BEDAC), received the Think. award for her tenacity in taking on increasingly complex challenges and her reliable delivery of high-quality work, above and beyond that expected of someone in her role. Tao’s keen ability to quickly learn new skills has served her well as she has contributed to data cleaning, quality control, and analytic dataset creation across numerous BEDAC projects. Her nomination letter highlights her ability to work both creatively and collaboratively, characterizing her as a “true team player” who is “always receptive to feedback,” and has a “positive, can-do attitude and willingness to take on new responsibilities.” Tao excelled, for example, at tackling a project with narrow budget constraints and a tight timeline. Despite these challenges, she produced clear, effective code that was easily reproducible thanks to her thorough documentation. Her initiative also extends to seeking out ways to broaden her experience and improve her skills through workshops, webinars, networking, and coding camp. In short, her nomination reads, “Junjun’s performance in her role as a statistical programmer has been nothing short of extraordinary.”
Maria Bakas, faculty resources associate in the Faculty Resources Office, received the Think. award for her diligent redesign of the system used to manage faculty appointments and promotions. Over the past year, Bakas has spearheaded the overhaul of AdAPT Pending, the system that collects and organizes external reference letters. The task required Bakas to translate written policy documents into programmable features while anticipating the needs of the system’s end-users. Her nomination letter pointed out that while the undertaking was not particularly glamorous, Bakas approached the challenge with enthusiasm, using the opportunity to build her technical and communication skills. Ultimately, her efforts streamlined the workflow of the committee responsible for appointments and promotions and simplified the lives of the school’s department chairs. Bakas’s nomination letter describes her as “smart” and “warm,” and praises her “careful attention to detail and persistence,” noting “[Bakas] cares about SPH’s goals, is highly productive, open to feedback, and fun to work with.”
Teach.
The Teach Award is presented to an individual who has taken ownership of key concerns and needs, acted on opportunities, solved problems, or brought people and resources together to make processes at SPH more efficient and accessible for others.
Heatherly Mitch, senior research administrator in the Department of Global Health, received the Teach award for her dedication to the training and mentorship of her new colleagues. Last fall, when the department onboarded two new research administrators, Mitch stepped up to lead biweekly training sessions, fostering a welcoming and supportive environment. She provided the trainees with real-world examples and walked them through various scenarios, patiently addressing their questions. Her ownership of her colleagues’ professional development and her commitment to knowledge-sharing left a lasting impact on the team, noted her nominator. “Heatherly’s generosity with her time and expertise exemplifies the spirit of the Teach Award, making her a truly deserving candidate for this honor,” reads her nomination letter.
Aboli Goghari, senior research fellow in the Department of Global Health, received the Teach. award for her successful stint as a teaching assistant for the fall 2024 course GH801 How To License A New Vaccine. Goghari attended classes regularly and worked closely with course instructor Allison Portnoy, assistant professor of global health, to strategically redesign the syllabus, prepare student assignments, evaluate presentations, and answer questions. Portnoy notes it was particularly helpful for students to hear Goghari’s reflections from her own experience as a master’s student. She writes in her nomination letter, “[Goghari] truly went above and beyond in her commitment and contribution to GH801, and I can only hope I am lucky enough to have such a passionate TA in the future.”
Do.
The Do Award is presented to an individual who has created extensive opportunities for others toward community building and making connections through programs, policies, and/or spaces, honoring the experiences of various populations and reflecting the SPH core purpose of sparking social change, fostering a sense of belonging, and building relationships across differences.
Shelli Vodovozov, project coordinator in the Department of Epidemiology, received the Do. award for her recent initiative to learn the work management software Smartsheet to the benefit of the epidemiology doctoral program. Despite the steep learning curve, Vodovozov committed herself to learning to program exactly what the department needed for tracking doctoral applicants. As faculty have begun to review new submissions, they have been able to go to Vodovozov with any questions and she has proven a highly reliable resource. Her nomination letter reads, “Shelli has truly changed the way our department reviews doctoral program applications to something that is significantly better: more automated, less prone to error, more user friendly for faculty, and much closer to what our students and applicants deserve. Shelli’s excellent work on this project—which was well beyond anything that is formally part of Shelli’s role in the department—will undoubtedly leave a lasting mark on the functioning, processes, and procedures of our program for years to come.”
Ayesha Khan, financial administrator in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management, received the Do. award for her grace as she has served in a dual capacity, filling in as executive assistant to interim Dean Michael Stein in addition to continuing her full-time role in the HLPM department, since January. Khan’s additional responsibilities include managing the dean’s calendar, coordinating internal and external scheduling requests, sitting in on dean’s office team meetings, and providing ad hoc administrative support. Khan’s colleagues report she always has a smile on her face as she traverses the stairs back and forth across the Talbot building. Her nomination letter reads, “Ayesha has handled this all with positivity, openness, and a willingness to learn and teach best practices, fully integrating herself as a valued member of our team.”
To recognize an employee for their outstanding contributions consistent with the Think. Teach. Do. motto, please submit your online nomination form.
