I had the privilege of presenting Gary and Eliseo for their awards. After exiting the Kennedy Center stage, I paused backstage for this photo showing Eliseo (left) and Gary (middle).
There was even more good news for NIH at the October 29 Sammies event. The 2021 Federal Employee of the Year Award went to Barney Graham, deputy director of NIH’s Vaccine Research Center (VRC), and Kizzmekia Corbett, formerly with the VRC and now at Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston. They received this honor for leading the groundbreaking research that led to an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine was developed in record time and has protected hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Congratulations one and all! Credit: Joshua Roberts for the Partnership for Public Service/Kennedy Center.