[Archived] Health Department Employee Honored

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

ALEXANDRIA HEALTH DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYEE IS HONORED

Elizabeth "Libby" Busenlehner, a Senior Environmental Health Specialist with the Alexandria Health Department, was recently named the recipient of the prestigious Jerrold Michael Award. The Jerrold Michael Award is the greatest honor bestowed by the National Capital Area Environmental Health Association for outstanding achievement in the field of environmental health. Ms. Busenlehner was honored by her colleagues for her bioterrorism and foodborne illness surveillance work and for her exceptional work in community environmental health assessment.

Since the anthrax outbreak of September 2001, Ms. Busenlehner has worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team at the Alexandria Health Department that reviews local hospital admission records on a daily basis for any indications that there may have been another bioterrorist attack. Ms. Busenlehner also coordinated the post-9/11 revision of the Alexandria Health Department's emergency operations plan and has played a major role in investigating several foodborne disease outbreaks associated with restaurants.

Ms. Busenlehner has also been instrumental in increasing the Health Department's data management capability through implementation of a new database system. Over the next two years, Ms. Busenlehner will coordinate the completion of a comprehensive community environmental health assessment for the City of Alexandria.
Dr. Charles Konigsberg, Jr., Health Director for the City of Alexandria, commended Ms. Busenlehner for her work. "Ms. Busenlehner represents a fine example of the modern public health professional. We are very fortunate to have her on our staff here in Alexandria," he said.

Bob Custard, Environmental Health Manager for the City of Alexandria, said "Ms. Busenlehner is one of the finest environmental health professionals in Virginia. We are extremely proud that she has been recognized by her peers with this prestigious award."

Ms. Busenlehner is a graduate of George Mason University and a resident of Ashburn in Loudoun County. Professor Jerrold Michael, for whom the award is named, presented the award to Ms. Busenlehner. Named founding president of the National Capital Area Environmental Health Association in 1960, Dr. Michael had a long career in the U.S. Public Health Service and then served as dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Hawaii. Currently, Dr. Michael serves as an adjunct professor of global health at the George Washington University School of Public Health.

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