The UNMC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research held the 2021 Community Service to Research Awards Ceremony on Sept. 19, recognizing award winners the Rev. Portia Cavitt and Kathy Karsting for their service to UNMC research efforts.
Rev. Cavitt and Karsting were announced as the award winners during the virtual Distinguished Scientist Awards Ceremony held last February.
“We wanted to have an in-person ceremony to acknowledge the awardees and were happy to be able to do so this summer with declining COVID cases,” said Jennifer Larsen, MD, UNMC vice chancellor for research.
Award winners were joined by their nominators, family members and friends to celebrate the occasion. Rev. Cavitt and Karsting have served the community and UNMC research in many ways and were nominated by UNMC faculty for their efforts.
Karsting, a registered nurse who also holds a master’s degree in public health, was nominated by Dejun Su, PhD, associate professor in the UNMC Department of Health Promotion in the College of Public Health, for her work on two federal grants and a series of impactful, widely circulated health reports based on the data collected from those projects.
“Ms. Karsting’s vision and leadership have made it possible for UNMC and Nebraska to adopt a data-driven approach in empowering health agencies, communities, families, schools and Nebraska DHHS to develop evidence-based strategies for improving maternal and child health,” said Dr. Su, who is director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities.
Rev. Cavitt was nominated by Jasmine Marcelin, MD, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Keyonna King, PhD, UNMC Department of Health Promotion, Social & Behavioral Health in the College of Public Health.
Rev. Cavitt has actively participated in many different projects, including a collaborative group of health care workers and community members focused on increasing vaccine access to marginalized communities and a broad survey of the North Omaha community to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. The COVID vaccine clinic at Girls Inc. that she helped create administered more than 5,000 vaccines.
“Pastor Cavitt was at every vaccine event over the two-month initiative,” Dr. Marcelin said in her nomination.
“I cannot think of a community member more deserving of this recognition than Pastor Portia Cavitt,” Dr. King said. “Her dedication to her community and collaboration with UNMC on COVID-19 efforts and beyond are unparalleled. I look forward to more opportunities to partner with her in both research and advocacy activities.”
Said Dr. Larsen, “These two award winners exemplify how the community is key to everything we do in research, particularly the ‘why’ and the ‘how.’ Researchers need collaborators to build and maintain trust in research, how to ask the right questions and how to best conduct research that represents all the communities we serve.”
