Three Staff Members Receive CUIMC’s 2020 Baton Awards

The 2020 Baton Awards were presented in a virtual ceremony [watch above] during the Dec. 3 meeting of the CUIMC Administrators Network. 

The three recipients—Janiris Jorge, Dori Lorsch, and D. Anne Stewart—were recognized as team players in receiving this year’s Baton Awards. 

The awards were created in 2009 to recognize medical center team players—individuals who “go the extra distance to make sure that if a teammate fumbles, they are there to catch the baton and who trust their colleagues to take the baton from them when they pass it along, understanding that any success is a shared one.”

2020 Baton recipients

Janiris Jorge, chief of staff in the CUIMC Executive Vice President’s office, joined Columbia in 1999 and has held several positions, including her recent promotion to chief of staff. Her first position was in the finance office but she soon moved into the Dean’s Office and held multiple roles, including serving as manager for faculty recruitment and special projects for 13 years.

Dori Lorsch, department administrator for the Department of Health Policy & Management in the Mailman School of Public Health since 2013, originally joined CUIMC in 2010 as director of financial reporting in the controller’s office. She has been an active participant on steering committees at the University, CUIMC, Mailman, and department levels. 

D. Anne Stewart, department administrator/chief financial officer for the Department of Emergency Medicine in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, originally joined Columbia in 1999. She returned in 2010 as director of operations at Harlem Hospital until the Harlem Hospital affiliation ended. Since returning most recently in 2012, she has held several positions in VP&S departments. 

“Today’s honorees have all the qualities of a good relay runner,” said Anil K. Rustgi, MD, interim EVP and dean, at the event. “They make CUIMC a great place to work because they always have their eyes on group success.”