The Elm

Members of the UMB community who assisted in the SMC Campus Center COVID-19 joint vaccination site successful operation were presented with a Governor’s Citations on behalf of Gov. Larry Hogan.

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The accolades continue for the multidisciplinary team that set up the SMC Campus Center COVID-19 joint vaccination site in 2021. The team received a University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Core Values Award for collaboration last year, and now its members have been honored by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

In a ceremony Feb. 22 outside the UMB President’s Boardroom in the Saratoga Building, members of the UMB community who assisted in the clinic’s successful operation were presented with Governor’s Citations on behalf of Hogan, who was unable to attend.

The clinic, established last year at the SMC Campus Center, was a joint effort among UMB, the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), and Faculty Physicians, Inc. (FPI). Faculty, staff, and students from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) and the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) helped to administer the shots, resulting in more than 40,000 COVID-19 vaccinations.

It surely was a stressful thing to set up,” said UMB President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, who presided over the ceremony along with Jane M. Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of UMSON. “Our partners from UMMC and FPI did a marvelous job. But the people who did the really spectacular job are in this room today, because we made something work that I think was very difficult to make work.”

Kirschling, who served as the director of the clinic, also expressed her appreciation to all involved.

“To each and every one of you, a profound thank you,” she said. “It was a joy to work with all of you. Many of you I would not have met had we not had this opportunity. You’re now a part of this sort of network of folks who did something amazing.”