Gala recognizes top civil servants

Obama administration officials praised civil servants on Wednesday during the annual Service to America Medals event in Washington, saying their stories should be more widely publicized.

"If we're going to make government work, we need more of you, and we need to empower federal employees to show how fabulous they can be," Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag said at the eighth annual ceremony, hosted by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry read a letter from President Obama, who wrote that civil servants "are moving our nation forward," and federal employees had a critical role to play in addressing the nation's challenges.

Dr. Janet Kemp of the Veterans Affairs Department was named Federal Employee of the Year for her work establishing a suicide-prevention hot line that employs more than 400 full-time counselors and interventionists who have fielded more than 160,000 inquiries and intervened in more than 3,000 potential suicides.

Dr. Thomas Waldmann, a research scientist at the National Cancer Institute won the Career Achievement Medal. Waldmann has been at the National Institutes of Health for 52 years and his contributions to medicine range from discovering new treatments for leukemia, lymphoma and multiple sclerosis to discovering substances that help prevent and treat cancers and HIV. Accepting his award, he said the drive to cure cancer was "a public endeavor" that demonstrated the power of government-backed research.

The financial crisis was the backdrop for two other honors, the Call to Service Medal awarded to Clare Rowley, and the Citizen Services Medal given to Michael German. Rowley, a junior analyst at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, won for her role in shaping the Treasury Department's loan modification program that helped thousands of Americans stay in their homes. German was recognized for his work as the team leader at the Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates homelessness reduction efforts across the federal government and builds partnerships with nonprofits and other outside organizations.

Two other awards highlighted the work of federal employees on environmental issues. Allan Comp won the Environmental Medal for his work at the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining creating partnerships to help coordinate cleanup efforts in communities affected by mining waste. Walter Benjamin Fisherow, an attorney in the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division, was honored with the Justice and Law Enforcement Medal for bringing lawsuits resulting in 16 settlements with utilities that failed to implement pollution controls properly. One suit required American Electric Power to spend $4.6 billion on technology to make coal burning cleaner, and to pay $15 million in fines and $60 million toward cleanup activities.

"My job is to enforce the law. … It has been a fulfilling job almost every day. It is a privilege," Fisherow said.

Sean Dennehy and Don Burke won the Homeland Security Medal for their efforts on building and creating a community dedicated to using and editing Intellipedia, an interagency wiki for intelligence professionals that has helped remedy critical information-sharing issues that have plagued spies and analysts. The National Security and International Affairs Medal went to Amy Meyer, who runs the U.S. Agency for International Development's economic development program in Pakistan. In that capacity, she's done everything from creating dairy cooperatives for women to acting as the host of a televised yoga program. Dr. Patricia Guerry of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center won the Science and Technology Medal for her work on the microbe that is often the root cause of food poisoning and other food-borne sicknesses.

"The accomplishments of the people we're honoring this evening prove that government can do what we need it to do and more," said Partnership President Max Stier.

For complete biographies of the Service to America award winners, click here.