UAB will honor seven Outstanding Women during a special ceremony 4:30-6 p.m. March 23 in the Alumni House.
The UAB Commission on the Status of Women presents the awards annually during Women’s History Month to honor women in the UAB and Birmingham communities who have mentored or served other women, taken a courageous stance or overcome adversity to achieve a goal.
Recipients for the award are nominated by UAB faculty, staff and students, Birmingham residents, mentors and others from around the country and are selected by a committee of university and community women.
The 2017 recipients who will be honored:
- Silvia Gisiger-Camata, Outstanding UAB Staff Member
- Alesia Jones, Susan D. Marchase Outstanding Woman Administrator
- Carolyn S. Ashworth, M.D., Becky Trigg Outstanding UAB Faculty Member
- Mugdha Mokashi, Outstanding Woman Student
- Whitney S. Rice, DrPH, Outstanding UAB Postdoc
- Lowell Christy, Outstanding Woman in the Community
- Marsha Hoke Hire, Outstanding Woman in the Community
Silvia Gisiger-Camata
Staff member
Gisiger-Camata, program director for Nursing Research & Scholarship in the School of Nursing, used a frightening chapter in her life to develop a program of support, education and information-sharing for breast-cancer survivors.
Instead of reducing her career goals, Gisiger-Camata, a working mother of young children when she was diagnosed, devoted herself to the development, planning and delivery of community-based educational programs to help others.
“When it was not popular to focus on survivorship issues, Silvia took the road less traveled and focused her attention to survivors and loved ones from diagnosis until end of life. She was one of the forerunners to the survivorship care model practiced today,” said one nominator.
Gisiger-Camata’s works in the community include the Young Breast Cancer Survivor Network, Gulf States Breast Cancer Survivors Network and the Think Well Programs, which provide education and support to young survivors — many from poor or rural communities — to help them achieve their personal and professional goals.
Under her directorship, the Breast Cancer Survivorship Office physically reaches hundreds of women per year. Said another nominator: “Because of her vision and commitment to bringing that dream to reality, my family as well as many others have not only survived breast cancer but continue to thrive.”
Alesia Jones
Administrator
Jones, UAB’s chief human resources officer, is “an extraordinary woman who has excelled in her profession, all the while reaching back to help other women achieve their goals” and “one of the reasons that diversity — of backgrounds, experiences, ideas and mindsets — is a cardinal virtue of the university and embraced across campus,” said nominators.
Jones is a strategic thinker and a dedicated professional who has worked ardently to provide the best opportunities, benefits and resources for UAB employees and been a tireless advocate for underrepresented populations. She oversees the groups that deliver all core HR services of employment, relations, benefits, compensation and more, while also responsible for supporting and maintaining special programs such as child care, employee assistance and UAB’s disability-management program.
Her legacy of leadership extends beyond her 160-person staff and her past tenure as chair of UAB’s Commission on the Status of Women to mentoring of young professionals through civic and charitable organizations, from Women’s Exchange to YWCA to Girls Inc.
In short, “Her actions reflect that she is a firm believer in lifting other women up and giving them the resources they need to overcome adversity, both professionally and personally.”
Carolyn Ashworth
Faculty
Ashworth, division director of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine for 22 years, has facilitated success among her mostly female faculty by allowing flexibility in work schedules that respects the struggle of women who juggle professional and family responsibilities — even if she had to fill the gaps in clinical coverage.
In turn, nominators say, the division has excelled locally, regionally and nationally because she has created a culture that enables them to function effectively and promotes career development and fulfillment.
When she arrived at UAB so many years ago, female leaders were rare in the division but today they are the rule rather than the exception. “What better service could one provide to other professional women?” one nominator asked rhetorically.
On a personal level, Ashworth is the first colleague to whom others turn when they face adversity because she allows them to “overcome their challenges with empathy informed by wisdom.
“So often, people view courage as a very public, loud activity. But Carolyn's courage is a quiet, consistent, persistent principled courage that drives meaningful and lasting change.”
Mugdha Mokashi
Student
Mokashi is enrolled in the undergraduate neuroscience program and on the fast track to a master’s degree for public health as a prelude to medical school. She also is the newly elected president of the Undergraduate Student Government Association.
A dedicated activist for social justice and reproductive rights, she has championed women's issues on campus. Mokashi founded the UAB chapter of URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity and also is a trained survivor advocate at Crisis Center Rape Response.
One nominator says Mokashi “loudly calls for accurate and honest sexual health education” as a tool to prevent disease and prevent sexual assault. “In my work with her as a student leader and advocate on the UAB campus, it has become very clear to me that Mugdha is often the person who stands up to say what no one else will.”
Mokashi also started a Women in STEM mentoring and outreach program with a faculty member that has allowed many undergraduates, graduates and professionals to connect and find support in a field she says can often be exclusionary and isolating.
Her long-term plans are to pursue an MD-PhD in gynecology, conduct research in women's health and provide access to adequate health care for low-income women of color.
Whitney Rice
Postdoc
Rice, a postdoc in psychology, is professionally dedicated to addressing social stigma regarding the reproductive decisions women make.
Her research has focused on disparities in use of prenatal care and the role of HIV-related stigma on antiretroviral therapy adherence in women, and she has published on the role of reproductive stigmas in reproductive decision-making and unintended pregnancies.
In addition to her academic dedication, Rice has volunteered with the local Planned Parenthood.
Rice has been a mentor to women undergraduate and graduate students through formal roles, but she also is quick to help her peers when the need arises, they say.
Lowell Christy
Community member
Christy, a trailblazer for women in the engineering and construction industry and principal of the firm Christy Cobb, chairs the advisory board for UAB Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.
Licensed as a Registered Professional Engineer in Alabama and five other Southern states, she has served on the leadership of numerous professional associations and in 2016 was inducted into the AGC Alabama Construction Hall of Fame.
In the community, Christy has supported groups such as Girls Inc., the Women's Network, the Eureka Program, Alabama Power's female engineers' organization ICAN and the Society of Women Engineers. Awards for those efforts include her selection as one of Birmingham Business Journal's Top 10 Women of 1991 and the Cahaba Girl Scout Council's 1994 Women of Distinction.
Marsha Hoke Hire
Community member
For four decades, Hire has committed her time and financial resources to our UAB Blazers, and in particular our female student-athletes.
She has been a generous supporter of UAB Athletics along with her husband, Donald, since the inception of the program in 1977, when they became the first paying members of the Golden 100 booster organization. And in 2008, Hire helped launch Blazer Women's Athletic Society (BWAS) by hosting its inaugural Belles & Whistles fundraiser to provide female student-athletes with the greatest opportunity for success in academics and athletics. Events held throughout the year raise funds for scholarships and special projects.
The Hires also have been generous supporters of UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, WBHM, UAB Hospital Patient Assistance Fund, UAB Marching Blazers, the schools of Medicine and Optometry and more.
