Cathy was recently awarded the David J. Skorton Award for Staff Excellence in Service to the University of Iowa. From https://now.uiowa.edu/2022/10/ui-honors-30-faculty-and-staff-award-winners:

Catherine Fairfield is chief study coordinator in the Department of Emergency Medicine. She has been instrumental in building one of the most effective emergency care research programs in the country. She envisioned and developed a collaborative model in which a group of study coordinators and research assistants work with investigators in multiple departments. She also developed a prized research intern program, through which college graduates pursue a year of emergency department-based research and mentoring as they apply to medical school. The program recently reported a 70% success rate for interns matriculating into medical school. Research interns provide 24-hour staffing for the department’s Research Enroller Program, which enrolls thousands of research participants in emergency care clinical trials annually. She developed a process for emergency department research enrollment, using real-time electronic screening in medical records and a centralized research tracking system, both of which have benefited researchers throughout the university.