Ginger E. Nicol, MD, CEDS, Dipl ABOM

2023 Dean’s Impact Award Recipient

Ginger E. Nicol, MD, CEDS, Dipl ABOM, played an important role in the Washington University Community Support team that was organized in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide mental health and wellness resources to Washington University employees, particularly front-line health-care workers. The team’s goal was to ensure employee well-being by providing a coordinated emotional support program to all employees impacted by the pandemic and beyond. This support team provided more than 6,200 hours of volunteer services including approximately 1,000 hours of hotline coverage, 24 Zoom groups to more than 1,000 employees, 14 mindfulness sessions attended by more than 800 employees, approximately 300 monthly mental health outpatient telehealth visits for employees and their dependents, and more than 50 outreach events, interviews and articles. Nicol collaborated with the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine Healthy Work Center, directed by Bradley Evanoff, MD, MPH, to first develop a needs assessment to solicit feedback from employees and then incorporate the feedback into the ongoing development of mental health and wellness services and resources during the pandemic. The study, Washington University Needs Assessment (WUNA), provided data for the community support team to develop tools, services and mental health resources. Based on these data, Nicol submitted and was awarded a $3 million grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, entitled Promoting Resilience and Mental Health Among Health Professional Workforce.