About
This award aims to spotlight an individual and a clinical laboratory team who champion diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and health equity. The Humans of ADLM – DEI Leadership Award will be awarded at ADLM 2026 (formerly the AACC Annual Meeting) in Anaheim, CA! Check out this year's winner.
Award description
One ADLM member and one clinical laboratory team that has made a significant contribution in raising awareness and advancing DEI initiatives in the laboratory medicine community will receive the Humans of ADLM – DEI Leadership Award.
Awards: $1,500 (Individual) and $3,000 (Team)
Nomination submission period
Applications for 2026 are now closed.
Eligibility requirements
General information requirements
- Self-nominations and ADLM committee nominations are accepted.
- Current members of the ADLM DEISC are ineligible for nomination or to make a nomination.
- All nomination packets or supplementary recommendation letters (accepted only to active nominations) must be received by the application deadline. No exceptions.
Individual member nomination requirements
- A member of ADLM in good standing.
- Demonstrates outstanding advocacy for inclusive excellence and equitable access within the field of laboratory medicine.
Clinical laboratory team (2 or more individuals) nomination requirements
- At least one team member is a member of ADLM in good standing.
- Demonstrates impact in developing programs to improve access and care for under-served, under-represented, and/or vulnerable patient populations.
- Promotes policies and guidelines that advance efforts towards equitable healthcare access.
- Fosters an environment of inclusion and diversity.
How to submit a nomination
To nominate an individual colleague and/or a clinical laboratory team for this award, please submit the following to ADLM at [email protected] or contact Dominique Smith at [email protected] if you have any questions:
- A letter containing an evaluation and appraisal of the nominee’s/team's accomplishments related to the award in no more than 3 pages.
- Describe the nominee’s approach to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment and the impact of their efforts with specific examples.
- Two to three letters of support detailing the nominee’s/team's accomplishments related to the award.
- The nominee’s resume/curriculum vitae (individual member only).
- Use this information on criteria as a helpful guide.
All nomination packets must be received by the application deadline. No exceptions.
Selection process
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Steering Committee - Outreach subcommittee members will review all nominees and select the awardee(s) based on the overall achievements of each individual candidate and clinical laboratory team, using award criteria as a guide. Once the awardees are selected, the recommended nomination packet will be sent to the ADLM Awards Committee for final review and selection.
Please contact ADLM staff if you have any questions during the application period.
Congratulations to the 2026 Winner
Humans of ADLM - DEI Leadership Award (Individual Category)
Octavia Peck Palmer, PhD, FADLM
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dr. Octavia M. Peck Palmer is an internationally recognized leader in laboratory medicine, serving as Vice Chair of Population Health and Organizational Culture and Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She holds secondary appointments in Critical Care Medicine and Clinical and Translational Sciences and is a faculty member of the Computational Pathology and AI Center of Excellence (CPACE).
In addition to her academic roles, Dr. Peck Palmer is Division Director of Clinical Chemistry and Medical Director for three high-volume automated clinical laboratories within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she oversees diagnostic services that impact thousands of patients daily.
An accomplished leader, educator, and mentor, she is deeply committed to training the next generation of clinical chemists, clinical laboratory scientists, physicians and researchers. She served as President of the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (2023–2024), helping shape the future of the field on an international level. Her externally funded translational research focuses on infectious disease and sepsis, women’s health, and advancing laboratory diagnostics to improve clinical care.
Dr. Peck Palmer is also a passionate advocate for health equity. She has led major diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, including chairing the ADLM DEI Steering Committee and founding the organization’s Health Equity and Access Division, publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts, and presenting her work internationally. In 2024, she launched Ask a Laboratorian in Pittsburgh, a community-centered initiative designed to improve health literacy and empower individuals to take an active role in their care.
Through her leadership, research, and community engagement, Dr. Peck Palmer is dedicated to elevating the role of laboratory medicine in identifying and eliminating health disparities.
Current and Past Winners - 2025
Humans of ADLM - DEI Leadership Award (Individual Category)
Dina Greene, PhD, DABCC
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Dina Greene, PhD, DABCC, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Washington, and the founder of Evergreene Labs, a consulting company focused on innovative solutions for common problems in the clinical laboratory. She serves on several committees and working groups for organizations including the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM, formerly AACC) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Dr. Greene serves as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine (Oxford Press), a Section Editor of Clinical Research for Heliyon (Cell Press), and additionally serves on the Editorial Boards for the Canadian Journal of Cardiology (Elsevier) and Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (De Gruyter). Dr. Greene has published over 140 scientific papers and is internationally recognized for her work on gender inclusive laboratory medicine. Her clinical research studies explore the application and effects of laboratory diagnostics, with an emphasis on how social demographics impact clinical outcomes. In line with her clinical focus, Dr. Greene is passionate about designing operational strategies for more inclusive laboratory medicine.
Humans of ADLM - DEI Leadership Award (Team Category)
WashU Section of Pathology Informatics
(Vahid Azimi, MD, MS; Ronald Jackups, MD, PhD; and Mark Zaydman, MD, PhD)
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri
As members of the WashU Section of Pathology Informatics, Drs. Vahid Azimi, Ronald Jackups, and Mark Zaydman have been working to make healthcare smarter, fairer, and more equitable — starting in the laboratory. As experts in laboratory medicine, informatics, and data science, their team is shedding light on health disparities and identifying practical solutions to address them.
One of their most impactful projects addressed racial disparities in maternal drug testing around childbirth. Black mothers at their hospital were being tested for drugs far more often than White mothers, often without an appropriate medical reason. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team of experts, including obstetrics, pediatrics, and social work, they helped design a more effective and equitable approach. As a result, testing rates dropped dramatically, racial differences were eliminated, and patient care remained just as effective. This effort is now a model for other hospitals and has been published in JAMA Network Open.
Their team also studies how artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine can sometimes reflect or even worsen social biases. Through national talks, research publications, and the co-creation of the ADLM FairLabs data competition, they’re helping laboratorians across the country understand how to monitor and correct these problems in preparation for the responsible and equitable adoption of AI.
In another significant study published in Clinical Chemistry, they found that the serum free light chain assay, a laboratory test used to detect multiple myeloma, yields false positives more frequently in Black patients. This can lead to unnecessary, costly, and invasive testing, as well as patient anxiety. Acknowledging the importance of removing race from medical decision-making, the team advocates for building new, more inclusive reference intervals that better reflect the diversity of real patients, rather than deriving race-specific interpretive criteria.
Their mission is simple but bold: to ensure that the tools we use to diagnose and treat patients work fairly for everyone.