University News

Accolades: Forbes Rates UVA Health as a Best Employer for Women

National business publication Forbes has ranked UVA Health among America’s 50 best employers for women and in the top 15 among health systems nationwide.

UVA Health is rated No. 40 overall and No. 11 among health systems in Forbes’s 2024 list of “America’s Best Employers for Women.”

In partnership with market research firm Statista, Forbes surveyed more than 150,000 women working at companies with at least 1,000 employees. They were asked if they would recommend their current and former employers and for recommendations of other employers they knew well. Survey respondents rated current employers on policies, including work environment, pay equity and parental leave. Statista also examined the percentage of women in leadership roles at each of the companies.

“Our ranking by Forbes reflects our ongoing efforts to make UVA Health a destination for talented women and become the workplace of choice in health care,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, UVA Health’s chief executive officer and UVA’s executive vice president for health affairs. “I am privileged to know and acknowledge so many accomplished women who work at UVA Health, from our executive leaders to our frontline clinicians and caregivers. These individuals and their excellence are recognized across the country as well as by our patients here at home, each and every day.”

“Whether through our leadership academy or our Earn While You Learn program to help residents of the Charlottesville region start a career in health care, we are committed to helping women build fulfilling careers in health care,” said Wendy Horton, chief executive officer of UVA Health University Medical Center.

UVA’s School of Medicine, meanwhile, is increasing the representation of women and nurturing their careers through the Committee on Women in Medicine and Science and other efforts.

“Both by training the next generation of female physicians and steadily growing the number of women on our faculty, the School of Medicine is committed to diversifying our workforce,” said Dr. Melina Kibbe, dean of the School of Medicine and chief health affairs officer for UVA Health. “For example, more than 40% of our faculty are women, and we are incredibly proud that 50% of our trainees, 52% of our medical students and 66% of our Ph.D. students are women.”

Equity Center Executive Director Tapped as Obama Foundation Leader

Ben Allen, executive director of The Equity Center at the University of Virginia, is among 205 leaders selected to join the Obama Foundation Leaders program, which trains participants worldwide in leadership development and civic engagement. Allen will be among 100 leaders participating in the United States program.

Ben Allen, executive director of The Equity Center, is joining the Obama Foundation Leaders program. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

As part of the six-month program, Allen and his colleagues will convene virtually for weekly interactive sessions designed to help them hone leadership skills and build relationships with peers. The participants will engage with prominent members of the Obama Foundation community and have an opportunity to participate in virtual experiences and special events, including one-on-one conversations with experienced mentors in the foundation’s global network.

Architecture Professor To Lead Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship

Associate professor Suzanne Moomaw, who chairs the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning in the School of Architecture, has been elected president of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship.

The academy provides expertise to policymakers, higher education institutions, community leaders, and national and international organizations. The organization is interested in addressing complex societal issues through effective engagement of higher education with community members and organizations.

“Our challenge is to build connections, collaborations and community to address our most challenging issues,” said associate architecture professor Suzanne Moomaw, newly elected president of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship. (UVA School of Architecture photo)

“This is an enormous opportunity to lead a membership organization dedicated to improving the circumstances for people and place,” Moomaw said. “The work that our members do every day gives hope to the possibilities that we can and will build a better world through the efforts of all, for all. Our challenge is to build connections, collaborations and community to address our most challenging issues.”

The academy was established a decade ago to honor members’ work and to advance community engagement scholarship as part of the academic mission.

UVA Health Earns National Pharmacy Award for Excellent Patient Care

UVA Health earned the 2024 High-Value Pharmacy Award from Premier Inc., a health care improvement company, for providing exceptional leadership and delivering great value for pharmacy patients.

Premier’s High-Value Pharmacy Award recognizes superior performance and operations from across Premier’s membership of more than 4,350 hospitals and health systems, and approximately 300,000 other providers and organizations.

Danielle Griggs is the chief pharmacy officer at UVA Health, which was recognized for its excellent pharmacy service to patients. (UVA Health photo)

UVA Health’s pharmacy services team of more than 500 members serves patients at 23 locations across Central and Northern Virginia, including all four of the health system’s hospitals.

“Enhancing pharmacy operations is essential to an organization’s ability to serve its patients and community,” Jessica Daley, chief pharmacy officer at Premier, said. “We celebrate UVA Health’s efforts as well as its commitment to share best practices with the broader Premier alliance.”

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“An important part of the health system’s 10-year strategic plan is providing easy access to care,” Danielle Griggs, UVA Health’s chief pharmacy officer, said. “Through initiatives like our 24/7 pharmacy in Charlottesville, our new pharmacy in Nelson County, the wide reach of our specialty and home delivery pharmacy, and our commitment to innovative, high-quality pharmacy services across the continuum of care, our team is helping achieve UVA Health’s vision of providing excellent care for patients across Virginia and beyond. I am thankful for every member of our team who helped us earn this award.”

Roe Named to the Max Planck Institute’s Scientific Advisory Board

The Max Planck Institute for Human Development recently named Jenny Roe, Mary Irene DeShong Professor of Design and Health in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, to its Scientific Advisory Board.

“The Max Planck Institute is ranked amongst the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide, and it’s an incredible honor to be invited to join their Scientific Advisory Board,” Roe said.

The Max Planck Institute for Human Development named architecture professor Jenny Roe to its Scientific Advisory Board, which advises the institute and assesses its performance. (UVA School of Architecture photo)

Roe, whose term begins in 2025 and concludes in 2030, and other advisory board members will advise the institute and assess its performance. The board’s guidance supports strategic management decisions for the institute and the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft organization.

An environmental psychologist and former head of landscape architecture for an international architectural practice, Roe is the co-author of “Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing” (2021) and “Infrastructure, Wellbeing and the Measurement of Happiness”(2022).

Architecture Professor Chosen To Advance Research on Coastal Community Resilience

The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine selected Jennifer Lawrence, a UVA assistant professor of urban and environmental planning, to its 2024-26 Early Career Fellows cohort.

Lawrence joins six other fellows nationwide in the human health and community resilience track. They will research the role of resilience-based interventions on root causes of climate disaster and health vulnerability related to disparities in communities throughout the Gulf of Mexico region.

Jennifer Lawrence, an assistant professor of urban and environmental planning, will explore disparities in disaster resilience in the Gulf region. (Contributed photo)

The Early Career Research Fellowships program supports members who take on untested research ideas, pursue unique collaborations and build a network interested in the safety of the offshore energy systems and the well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems.

Advanced Research Studio Earns 2024 Timber Education Prize

The School of Architecture’s advanced research studio, “Design From Tree to Timber: Building Non-Planar Futures,” developed and taught by assistant professor of architecture Kyle Schumann, received a Timber Education Prize from the Softwood Lumber Board and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. The annual prizes recognize curricula that create a stimulating, evidence-based environment for learning about structural lumber systems.

School of Architecture assistant professor Kyle Schumann’s advanced research studio, “Design From Tree to Timber: Building Non-Planar Futures,” was one of five courses nationwide selected to receive cash prizes and support. (UVA School of Architecture photo)

The jury selected five courses to receive cash prizes and support to lead their course within the next two years.

The competition jury noted, “This is a fantastic course proposal that delves into timber production. The blend of material and technological processes makes for a compelling (research and studio) course.”

Law Professor’s Paper Named Best in Corporate Finance

School of Law professor Edwin Hu shared the Northern Finance Association’s Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance for a working paper analyzing how shareholders use customized proxy advice.

Hu’s fellow academics chose “Custom Proxy Voting Advice,” co-written with Boston College professor Nadya Malenko and Georgetown University professor Jonathon Zytnick, from among more than 1,400 submissions. The award was announced in September at the Northern Finance Association meeting in Montreal.

Hu, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission economist, said when the SEC sought to regulate proxy advisers in 2019, he felt many of the regulations were misguided and would chill the use of proxy advice. A proxy adviser is a company that provides services to institutional shareholders so they can be informed when voting at company meetings. Because there are two main proxy advisers in the U.S., policymakers have raised concerns about their influence in corporate governance matters.

Law professor Edwin Hu shared the Northern Finance Association’s Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance. (Contributed photo)

“This idea of companies blindly following one or two proxy advisers is really what motivated the paper,” he said, “but it turns out a lot of mutual fund companies were developing their own custom voting advice.”

The paper highlights the “significant” role customized proxy advice, rather than in-house recommendations created by proxy advisers, plays in shaping shareholders’ voting decisions. The authors’ research shows that customization helps shareholders express their ideologies through voting and allows them to focus their attention on the more important proposals.