NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

This is Kathy Teng Odenwald - born in Japan, grew up in Taiwan, and growing beautifully mature in the beautiful U.S.of A!

Working for federal government has been the dream career for me. I spent 13 years working for the Department of the Army in Germany. It took me from a small town called Neu Ulm in southern Germany, to the historical city of Berlin not too long after the wall came down. I ended up in the sophisticated city of Wiesbaden. Finally, the federal government brought me to this Institute surrounded by innovative and intelligent people. Wow!

I chose EEO as my profession because it is closest to my study field - Human Communication. Connecting different minds, to me, is extremely interesting and most rewarding.

Hello

I am Gerard Roman - the newest member of this winning team. I was introduced to this field while serving in the U.S. Army, where I was very fortunate to work as an Equal Opportunity Staff Advisor and attend resident training at the Department of Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute. This wonderful opportunity helped me realize the extreme importance of human relations in all aspects of everyday life. I soon discovered my passion for this type of work.

For twenty-three years, I traveled around the world meeting people from many different cultures, appreciating the differences and similarities that make us so interesting.

I am fascinated with the scientific work accomplished here at the NIEHS and look forward to contribute with my experience to mission of this institution.

I am Virginia (Ginny) Ivanoff and this job has been the most fulfilling of my twenty-year Federal career. During those twenty years, I have had the opportunity to travel the country working for various agencies and I have been exposed to a variety of corporate and regional cultures.

The mix of employees from all over the world makes the NIEHS a rich and unique place to work. I have learned much from my interactions with our employees and hope to continue helping the NIEHS workforce share the gift of their cultures by working with the Diversity Council and planning other EEO-sponsored cultural education activities. It is only through dialog and understanding, that we, as a whole, are able to grow synergistically.