Connect

The University of Virginia launched the “Hoos Building Bridges” Awards in 2019, building on a vision President Jim Ryan outlined in his first Opening Convocation address – a University community of people who, when in doubt, “build a bridge.”

The “Hoos Building Bridges” Awards celebrate cross-disciplinary partnerships and projects among UVA employees, and honor recipients for their leadership, collegiality and effort in establishing strong relationships that help get things done across Grounds.  

This year’s honorees, including nine individuals and two teams, faced many unusual challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but they managed to bring others together in many different ways, from setting UVA up to transition to Zoom last spring, or rapidly enacting isolation and quarantine protocols, to finding new ways to serve pediatric patients in Southwest Virginia.

They represent many different parts of UVA and serve in many different roles, but each of them fulfills that vision of bridge-building, of making connections that make this community stronger.

Read about this year’s UVA Health honorees below. Read about the academic division honorees on UVA Today.

UVA Health Hoos Building Bridges Award Winners

Kat Brown

As the office manager of UVA Pediatric Specialty Care Richmond in Henrico County, Kat Brown is an “amazing” colleague who not only gets things done for patients and staff every day, but has also contributed to the clinic’s growth, nominator Joyti Khokhar said.

“Kat has promoted communication across the University Physicians Group and the School of Medicine to allow our clinic site to grow in volume, physical size and specialty care,” said Khokhar, a genetic counselor at the clinic. “Our clinic has hired two new providers over the last year and has gained a specialty area to provide services in. We have had recent meetings to continue our growth over time, and Kat has been instrumental in making this happen by involving key decision-makers across the University Physicians Group and the School of Medicine.”

Brown has also been instrumental in providing effective patient care, Khokhar said, by promoting efficiency, creating new positions and welcoming new care providers, and demonstrating genuine care for patients in everything she does.

“She effectively leads the staff in our clinic to continuously improve and strive for optimal patient care. This is evident from what patients share with providers.”

Christine (Krissy) Bryant

Clinical pharmacist Krissy Bryant has “made incredible strides” in integrating pharmacy services into UVA’s pediatric transplant programs, according to nominator Kevin Lonabaugh, a clinical pharmacist in pediatric ambulatory care.

“Historically, the pharmacy department has been somewhat on the sidelines when it comes to the management of pediatric transplant patients and has served as more of a passive participant,” Lonabaugh said. “However, solid organ transplant patients require close attention to their medications, including consideration of appropriate dosing for organ function, age, and weight, drug interactions, formulations of available medications, and coordination for discharge in the outpatient setting. Krissy has gone above and beyond to make sure that pharmacy has a seat at the table.”

Bryant stayed outside of her normal hours to attend interdisciplinary team meetings with various pediatric subspecialties, and worked to ensure that all medication provided fit within general protocols and guidelines and could be adapted to the needs of specific patients, Lonabaugh said. She also regularly and clearly communicated with both inpatient and outpatient pharmacists to ensure seamless care from admission to discharge, and minimize a patient’s risk for readmission.

“Her involvement in regular transplant meetings has helped connect the pharmacy team with the physicians from various pediatric subspecialties, nursing colleagues, social work and countless others,” he said. “It truly takes a strong team to have successful transplant services and Krissy has fostered good collaboration and communication across multiple services to make this a reality.”

Kimberly Campagna

When COVID-19 hit, Kimberly Campagna, an RN clinician in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery, or ERAS, program in UVA Orthopedics, quickly identified an important need. The program had moved its pre-surgery education seminars – normally held in-person to help patients prepare for knee and hip replacements – online. Campagna realized that the new virtual program worked fine for English-speaking patients, but was difficult for Spanish speakers.

She quickly consulted with several colleagues across departments, including the Health Sciences Library, UVA Health Marketing and Communications, and a number of clinicians. She translated the presentation herself, slide by slide, bringing in other experts where needed to make sure that she was conveying the concepts well, and that the audio transcription was also translated into Spanish.

“From the initial idea to the final delivery, Kimi was instrumental in optimizing this patient education process. She identified the necessity of high-quality preoperative information for our underserved Spanish-speaking population and took it upon herself to collaborate with a wide variety of cross-disciplinary team members across the organization,” said nominator Bethany Sarosiek, the ERAS program lead. “She has not only helped to optimize Spanish-speaking patient understanding for surgical preparedness, but she has also helped to collaborate across departments and across disciplines to build worthwhile relationships for the future.”

Kristin Miller

Kristin Miller is the partnership manager for the iTHRIV program, or integrated Translation Health Research Institute of Virginia. The program provides pilot funding to multi-institutional research projects in Virginia, supporting early phase research projects that can lead to new treatments and understanding of a variety of diseases and disorders.

“Kris’s role in iTHRIV is to engage with community partners to promote clinical research,” wrote nominator and iTHRIV program director Sandra Burks. “Her work has become even more critical since the onset of the pandemic and magnified with the growing concerns for health disparities in our local and national community.

“Throughout the pandemic, Kris has been bringing the voice of our community partners into our research community, challenging leadership to make clinical research more accessible and inclusive, and building bridges with community partners, departments and teams across UVA, and groups involved in research across Virginia.”          

Miller is also involved with many nonprofit and coalition groups across Central Virginia, and has helped launch a new program to remove barriers for underrepresented community members who wish to participate in clinical research at UVA by providing transportation, housing and language support.

“Kris seeks to ensure that the voice of the community is heard and empowered in all aspects of our work,” Burks said. “She has been a role model for us in iTHRIV.”

Hoos Building Bridges Team Award

Blue Ridge/Southwest Team

Between the two of them, Sandra Woodward and Vertie Wade have provided tremendous care for children and families in Central and Southwest Virginia, nominators Petrina Thomas, Bailey Ocker, and Katie Hunt said.

Woodward is the program director of Blue Ridge and Southwest Virginia Care Connection for Children, and Wade is the office manager for the program’s Blue Ridge and Bristol sites. The organization focuses on providing individual care coordination to children with special health care needs. Woodward and Wade both jumped at the chance to expand the work in Southwest Virginia with the Bristol office, while keeping the Blue Ridge office running smoothly.

“Sandra and Vertie have been tireless advocates for the underserved communities in Southwest Virginia and are always looking for new partnerships and new ways to connect them with important services and resources,” the nominators wrote. “They have been instrumental in bringing many UVA doctors, residents, and even student nurses to conduct clinics in various parts of Southwest. Despite the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to dimensions of patient care and daily life for us all, Sandra and Vertie have remained steadfast in their resolve to ensure that the needs of patients, families, providers, and their staff are optimally met.”

They were pioneers in the use of telemedicine even before the pandemic, helping patients and families in other parts of Virginia connect to specialists at UVA without having to drive several hours one-way. They even coordinated a long-standing effort to bring quality, high-speed internet to one of the main clinic sites, a challenge in a rural area.

“Sandra and Vertie are building bridges not only within the UVA community, but also across the commonwealth for children, families, and various UVA providers and specialists,” the nominators said. “Their work has improved the quality of care and life for so many patients.”