News Room

2012 Scholarship and Grant Recipients Honored

Each year, the Medical Library Association (MLA) offers grants and scholarships to assist in graduate library science programs and to enable practicing health sciences librarians to take advantage of opportunities for continuing professional development. The association is pleased to announce that the following individuals were recognized at the MLA ’12 Awards Ceremony and Luncheon in Seattle, WA:

Aleta C. Embrey (EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grants)
Ligia Patricia Groff (MLA Scholarship for Minority Students)
Aleshia C. Heckel (EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grants)
Elizabeth Jayne Kiscaden (Hospital Libraries Section/MLA Professional Development Grant)
Alisha H. Miles, AHIP (EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grants and MLA Continuing Education Award)
Mary Moore (Donald A. B. Lindberg Research Fellowship)
Kevin Pardon (MLA Scholarship)
Mary E. Piorun, AHIP (Thomson Reuters/MLA Doctoral Fellowship)
Midrar Ullah (Cunningham Memorial International Fellowship)
Jennifer S. Walker, AHIP (EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grants)

Aleta C. Embrey, Aleshia C. Heckel, Alisha H. Miles, AHIP, and Jennifer S. Walker AHIP, received EBSCO/MLA Annual Meeting Grants for 2012. Sponsored by EBSCO Information Services, the 4 grants provide up to $1,000 each to enable medical librarians new to the profession and working in health sciences libraries to attend MLA annual meetings. This year’s winners had an opportunity to attend the annual meeting and learn and network with their colleagues in the field. Embrey, Library, Archives and Copyright Center, Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nurses, Washington, DC, benefitted through honing her research skills and further building professional relationships with colleagues. Heckel, Herman Baker Memorial Library, St. Mary’s Medical Center, Evansville, IN, was able to progress with her Academy of Health Information Professionals coursework, meet in-person with her academy mentor, and forge new relationships with professionals from around the country. Miles, Simon Schwob Medical Library, Columbus Regional Healthcare System, Columbus, GA, used this opportunity to expand her knowledge with a continuing education course and networking with fellow MLA colleagues. Walker, Laupus Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, used her grant to gain expertise and knowledge from her colleagues and to attend paper and poster presentations. Also, is the grant allowed her to participate more fully with her special interest group and take a continuing education course.

The 2012 MLA Scholarship for Minority Students recipient is Ligia Patricia Groff, Department of Library and Information Sciences, College of Information, University of North Texas–Denton. This scholarship provides $5,000 to a minority student entering an American Library Association–accredited library school with at least one-half of the requirements of the program to finish in the year following the granting of the scholarship. Groff is currently working on her master’s in library sciences with a specialization in health informatics. She sees that minority communities face many culturally unique health issues that need to be examined in a narrower scope than the general consumer health information that is currently being offered. Upon completion of her studies, Groff plans to use her role as a professional librarian to make a positive impact on the community and change lives for the better.

Established in 1996, the Hospital Libraries Section/MLA Professional Development Grant provides librarians working in hospital and similar clinical settings with the support needed for educational or research activities. The 2012 recipient is Elizabeth Jayne Kiscaden, Medical Library, Mercy Medical Center, Mason City, IA. She is using the grant for course work in evidence-based practice offered through the University of Illinois–Chicago. Kiscaden intends to make the hospital library part of the Magnet process by educating nursing staff to identify and evaluate evidence in medical literature. Kiscaden was unable to be at the ceremony, but her certificate was mailed to her.

The MLA Continuing Education Award provides monetary awards to MLA members to develop knowledge of the theoretical, administrative, or technical aspects of librarianship. Alisha H. Miles, AHIP, this year’s recipient, is the manager of library services at the Simon Schwob Medical Library, Columbus Regional Healthcare System, Columbus, GA. Miles used her grant to cover costs for continuing education in translational science at MLA’12. She was also a recent presenter for the MLA April 2012 webcast and sits on the MLA Technology Advisory Committee.

The Donald A. B. Lindberg Research Fellowship, named in honor of Donald A. B. Lindberg, director, National Library of Medicine, funds research aimed at expanding the research knowledgebase, linking the information services provided by librarian to improved health care and advances in biomedical research. This year’s fellowship was awarded to Mary J. Moore, Louis Calder Memorial Library, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL. Her study will explore correlations between investments in health sciences and US national ranking for medical education and National Institutes of Health research funding. If a correlation is found, the results of her research will become a powerful tool in promoting the importance of health sciences libraries.

The MLA Scholarship of up to $5,000 is granted each year to a student entering an American Library Association–accredited library school with at least one-half of the requirements of the program to finish in the year following the granting of the scholarship. The 2012 recipient, Kevin Pardon, is a student at the School of Information, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. He plans to apply the scholarship to his remaining educational expenses, specializing in reference services with a concentration in the health sciences. Pardon aspires to work in a health sciences library as a professional librarian and sees the importance of being involved in his profession through MLA, both nationally and locally.

The Thomson Reuters/MLA Doctoral Fellowship supports a fellowship in the amount of $2,000 to foster and encourage superior students to conduct doctoral work in an area of health sciences librarianship or information sciences and to provide support to individuals who have been admitted for candidacy. This year’s winner is Mary E. Piorun, AHIP, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library, Worcester, MA. She plans to build on her work in e-science by exploring how and why research currently engages in e-science in order to provide a roadmap of how to meet the institutional needs of the e-science community, how to implement library changes in order to meet those needs, and how partnership and collaborations are formed and grow in the highly interdisciplinary and team oriented community.

The Cunningham Memorial International Fellowship was created to assist in the education and training of health sciences librarians from countries outside of the United States and Canada who have both an undergraduate degree and a master’s level library degree. It provides funds for attendance at the MLA annual meeting and observation and supervised work in one or more medical libraries in the United States and Canada. Midrar Ullah is the librarian and literature search officer at the Army Medical College, National University of Sciences and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He arrived in the United States in early May, and his visit included studies at host library sites Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, George Washington University, Washington, DC, and the US National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, in addition to other libraries in those areas. He is completed his program by attending a variety of sessions at MLA ’12 and a continuing education courses.

For more information about the MLA Grants and Scholarship Program, please visit www.mlanet.org/awards/grants/, or contact Maria Lopez, mlapd2@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x15.

Released July 30, 2012