Hannah Hazard-Jenkins receives Vice President’s Women in Science & Health Award

Dr. Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, associate chair of surgery for WVU Cancer Services, has been honored for outstanding achievement by WVU Health Sciences Vice President and Executive Dean Clay Marsh, MD. During the Annual Vice President’s Achievement Awards ceremony this past week, Hazard-Jenkins was presented the 2018 WISH (Women In Science & Health) Mid-Career Excellence Award.

“Since joining the faculty, she has made substantial contributions in patient care, administration, education, and research serving the university in a host of ways and leaving an indelible and positive mark,” said WVU Cancer Institute Director Rich Goldberg, MD, who nominated her.

Dr. Goldberg said it was clear early in her career that Hazard-Jenkins had administrative as well as teaching and clinical skills, noting that within three days of joining WVU’s faculty she was asked to become the general surgery clerkship director. She also willingly expanded her on call coverage beyond surgical oncology patients to fill a gap in patient care duties resulting from faculty member departures. “This pattern of sacrificing personal time on behalf of the institution is a pattern of behavior that she continues to manifest to the present day.”

Hazard-Jenkins has also served WVU through her membership on multiple committees, including the Admissions Committee for the School of Medicine, rising to vice chair of that committee in June 2011. Based upon her leadership attributes she became the Assistant Dean for Admissions in 2012. While she was the Dean for Admissions, she also sat on the MD/PHD Admissions Committee and the Health Careers Opportunity Program Committee, and under her leadership the number of admissions increased substantially.

At that time, she was the only breast surgeon at WVU and served as interim division chief of surgical oncology to fill a vacancy in that role in 2011 before being named permanent chief in 2013.

Her service to patients and trainees has earned her several awards, including Clinician of the Year, the Bernard Zimmerman Outstanding Attending Surgeon and the Ron Albuquerque Medical Student Teaching Award.

Hazard-Jenkins collaborates on research projects with a number of faculty from WVU and NIOSH, assesses clinical research studies to determine if they would be beneficial treatment options for her patients, and is one of the “cornerstones” of the WVU Cancer Institute’s multidisciplinary breast cancer tumor board that she codirects with Dr. Adham Salkeni.

As the Director of Clinical Services and Surgeon in Chief of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center she manages the clinical affairs of the hospital and outpatient services as well as the Cancer Institute’s statewide network of cancer care.

In addition to Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, WVU Department of Pharmaceutical Systems & Policy Professor Usha Sambamoorthi, PhD, a WVU Cancer Institute member, also won a Vice President’s Award. Dr. Sambamoorthi was the recipient of the Women in Science and Health Advanced Career Award.