Meet Your ASTMH Staff

Posted 9 October 2019

Rhonda Schultz, Coordinator, Awards and Fellowships

Rhonda’s responsibilities include supporting the Board, managing the ASTMH/BMGF Travel Award, Kean, Centennial, Shope, Burroughs Wellcome committees, and additional Annual Meeting planning and support. She has 10 years of combined experience in healthcare and non-profit organizations, including relationship development, volunteer coordination and fundraising, and spent five years with the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) as Administrator, Educational Awards. Ms. Schultz has a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Governor’s State University in University Park, IL.

What brought you to ASTMH and what do you bring to the Society?
Having worked at the AGD as an Educational Awards Administrator, moving to the ASTMH as its Coordinator of Awards and Fellowships was a good fit for my skill set. But what has really intrigued me about the ASTMH is its members’ passion to serve the underserved. My job gives me a sense of purpose and in some small way I can help make the world a better place.

Managing the travel awards seems rather straightforward, but there is much more involved, correct?
Coordinating travel and meeting logistics for 68 Travel Award recipients takes makes you be organized if you weren’t already. For most of our Travel Award recipients, this is the first time they have traveled outside their home country or have been on a plane. My job is to help them with all the details so that they can focus on meeting and all that it has to offer. So this means I make sure their flights are booked, their hotel arrangements have been made, they are aware of which Annual Meeting events they should attend, and that they receive their travel award stipend – 68 people! 

What prompted you to create gift bags for the ASTMH/BMGF Travel Award recipients?
I came up with idea of gift bags for the Travel Award recipients from my previous fundraising position at The Bridge Teen Center in the Chicago suburbs. I thought it would be nice for Travel Award recipients to receive a “Congratulations and Welcome to the Annual Meeting” gift to let them know how excited the Travel Award Committee and Society are that they’re at the meeting. Little things to, hopefully, make them feel welcome: a reusable water bottle, gum, breath mints, hand sanitizer, Band-Aids, etc. And, of course, some ASTMH swag: an ASTMH coffee mug and an ASTMH passport cover!

What have you learned managing the Centennial, Shope and Burroughs Wellcome committees?
Build lots of extra time into the annual review timeline for each fellowship. The committee members I work with are all wonderful, kind and very busy people. It’s important for me to provide each committee member with an overview of the annual review timeline so they’re all aware of the overall schedule for each fellowship. This helps them (and me) plan enough time for application reviews and recipient selections and notifications. 

Did you discover a couple of good reads from working at ASTMH? 
If you are not familiar with our Summer Reading newsletter feature, I highly recommend you check out our archives. It is my absolute favorite feature of the year! Right now I’m reading The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates, which is the book Trainee Membership Committee member Krutika Kuppalli, MD, recommended in August. Based on past Summer Reading recommendation, I’ve also read a book about yellow fever that was fascinating and terrifying.
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