The Distinguished Member Award of the Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association is an honor whereby one outstanding member of the Association is recognized for loyal services to the Association and contributes to the profession.   It is the intent that this award be conferred at any point in a member’s career and not be limited to recognition at retirement.  Nominees may be submitted on a regional basis or by any PHIMA member throughout the year.

 Several documents need to be completed when nominating a candidate.  These documents include:

1. Application

2. Individual letters of recommendation from the sponsor

3. Two references

 The nominee must meet the following requirements:

• Current AHIMA member and designated Pennsylvania as your Component State Association (CSA)

If you have the privilege of knowing someone who meets these criteria, please take the time to nominate them for this “distinguished” honor. 
 

2010 PHIMA Distinguished Member
Valerie J. M. Watzlaf, Ph.D, RHIA, FAHIMA

PHIMA’s Distinguished Member Award is given to honor outstanding members of PHIMA for their loyal service to PHIMA and contributions to the profession. This year’s recipient is Valerie J. M. Watzlaf.

Valerie has an exemplary record of service to her community, college and profession. For the past thirty years, Valerie has made strong contributions to the development of Health Information Management in research, publication and education. Her contributions have been generous and much appreciated. She has served on numerous PHIMA and AHIMA committees and board positions. She published research and contributed to the science of health information management. Her colleagues, peers, and mentors have stated that she has given “tirelessly of herself to the profession for over thirty years”. But what is most striking is the following quote from her nomination reference letter which reflects the impact of her service to our future HIM community.

“Valerie has mentored numerous students and received the highest evaluation for her teaching abilities, but also her compassion and caring style of teaching. She has “saved” numerous students who would have been lost in the system of indifference. Now these students have graduated and are supportive alumni and contributing members of our profession and society”.

PHIMA is proud to honor this exceptional award to Valerie J.M. Watzlaf.
 

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