Volunteer Recognition
The Susan McFarland Volunteer Award
Honoring the individuals who keep HDAA’s mission alive through dedication, collaboration, and selfless service.
2024 Winner
Congratulations, Elissa Malcolm!
The HDAA Board is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 Susan McFarland Volunteer Award, revealed November 9 at the annual conference in Denver.
Elissa Malcolm
Director of Quality Analytics, Dartmouth Health
Elissa has been a willing volunteer at HDAA since she joined in 2017. She presented a poster on peer-review quality control at HDAA 2018 in Seattle. But it was really the pandemic era when Elissa made her presence felt. She participated in three different COVID town halls in 2020 and 2021 on regulatory reporting, vaccine analytics, and sharing data with the public.
In 2022, she served on two panels in our HDAA Insights series, which aims to attract the next generation of healthcare data analysts. She is also an active participant in our Data Governance SIG, served on the presentation review committee for HDAA 2024, and is a charter member of the Community Advisory Council.
Thank you, Elissa, for all you’ve done for the HDAA community.
About the Award
Volunteers are the lifeblood of HDAA, making possible everything from our annual conference to our website to our special interest groups and online forums. Each year, we honor one volunteer for outstanding contribution to our mission and dedication to the spirit of collaboration that informs everything we do.
The Susan McFarland Award, named for the woman who was HDAA’s driving force for its first 17 years, recognizes our volunteer of the year — an individual who has donated significant time and effort, often behind-the-scenes, to keep our organization running efficiently, our members engaged and informed.
Eligibility
Award Criteria & Nominations
Criteria
The HDAA Board selects the person who best demonstrates one or more of the following:
- Outstanding support of one or more areas of HDAA operations
- Commitment to HDAA’s mission and guiding principles
- Innovative expansion of services to our members
Eligibility
- Must be a current HDAA member who participated in at least one volunteer activity in the calendar year
- Must be 18 years or older
- Cannot be a current HDAA board member
- Previous award winners are not eligible
How to Nominate
Any HDAA member may nominate an individual subject to the eligibility requirements. Write a note describing the person’s contributions that support the award criteria and send nominations to execdir@hda2.org.
Deadline is one month prior to the HDAA annual conference. The winner is announced at the annual conference members meeting.
Past Recipients
HDAA Honor Roll
Every year, exceptional volunteers rise above and beyond for the HDAA community. We are proud to recognize them.
2024
Elissa Malcolm
Director of Quality Analytics, Dartmouth Health
Charter member of HDAA Community Advisory Council, intrepid reviewer of presentations for HDAA 2024, enthusiastic participant on the HDAA Insights series.
2023
Peter Ivers
IT Director, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Unflappable Epic SIG lead and charter member of HDAA Community Advisory Council.
Wendy Soethe
Senior Director, Data & Analytics – AI, Pivot Point Consulting
Stellar recruiter and manager of conference sponsors.
2022
David Ding
Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management, Rutgers Business School
Father of the HDAA Insights series.
2021
Anjali Ancy
Student, Mount Carmel College
Devoted curator of HDAA on LinkedIn.
Heather Wilson
Business Analyst, Evergreen Health
Inspiring social media advocate and Slack administrator.
John Peters
Senior BI Developer, Intermed
Conscience of the HDAA conference presentation committee.
Mary Jo David
Technical Writer, Michigan Medicine
Stalwart editor and steward of our presentation committee.
2020
Lynsie Daley
Senior Data Analyst, Intermountain Healthcare
Peerless lead of HDAA’s Women in Analytics special interest group.
Patrick Day
Senior Advisor, Cigna
Distinguished lead of the Data Governance SIG.
Michael Lewis
Senior Director of Healthcare Analytics, Cleveland Clinic
COVID panelist extraordinaire.
Boris Tyukin
Senior Big Data Strategy Manager, AdventHealth
First-rate and tireless presenter.
2019
Beth Willmitch
Senior Analytics Architect, Baptist Health of South Florida
Indefatigable maintainer of HDAA membership roster.
Get Involved
Nominate a Volunteer
Know someone who goes above and beyond for HDAA? Submit a nomination for the Susan McFarland Volunteer Award and help us celebrate the people who make our community thrive.
Submit a Nomination