Cheryl Nava

By Steve Lansdale

Cheryl Nava loved her job, but for her, something was missing. From 1999 through 2003, she worked in staff education – training new nurses to become ICU nurses. Then the Registered Nurse transitioned to her current role as Transplant Coordinator in Heart and Lung Transplant, which allows her to combine patient care with serving as an educator.

“I love caring for patients,” she says. “I get to know them, I love them. While I was in staff education, I was missing nursing.”

Now serving at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, she provides patients with specialized care after their procedures, but also is part of a program designed to educate patients and their families before a transplant on how to manage the challenges that will come after transplant surgery.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” Ms. Nava says, “because I have that patient contact again, but the people I teach are the patients and their families. I help them learn to help themselves.”

Ms. Nava’s caring nature was likely in her DNA: she and three of her five sisters went into nursing. At one point, she was one of four family members – along with two sisters and her electrician father – who worked at St. Paul University Hospital.

Even her dog, a shar pei named Biscuit, is involved in a caring endeavor. Biscuit is a member of Dog Scouts of America. One of their projects involves Meals on Wheels. Some of the beneficiaries of the program have dogs of their own, so the Dog Scouts bring food, treats, and bowls to the dogs of the Meals on Wheels recipients.

Robert Newton

By Steve Lansdale

When Bob Newton started his career at UT Southwestern 35 years ago as a Public Safety Officer, he had no aspirations of eventually ascending to his current position: Assistant Chief of University Police.

“Absolutely not,” Chief Newton says. “I admired the lieutenant we had, and I wanted to make it to that position, knowing that you had to be a sergeant first.”

But he kept climbing the ranks, and now helps oversee a police force with nearly 150 officers that handles many of the same issues facing municipal police departments: burglaries, auto thefts, assaults, and more.

“I take great pride in the role I play in helping to make UT Southwestern as safe as it is,” Chief Newton says. “It’s not like there is an invisible wall around the campus. People say they don’t hear about problems on campus, and that’s what we want.”

Chief Newton’s professional pride in his job and the university are rivaled only by the satisfaction he gets in working alongside his son, Michael, who is also serving with the UT Southwestern Police.

And though father is soon retiring to travel and to spend more time with his family, he’s thrilled that his family name will live on in the department through his son.

“He doesn’t work directly under me, but I know how good he is,” Chief Newton says. “I couldn’t be more proud of the job he does.”

His outside activities include photography, traveling, and enjoying a family that includes his wife, Debbie, sons Andy and Michael, daughter-in-law Samantha, and grandson Dominik, 4.

Paulette Padalino

By Ron Durham

Research Scientist Paulette Padalino enjoys her job so much that she says choosing a single most funny or rewarding experience is virtually impossible because there are just too many.

“In the 35 years that I have worked here, I have had so many funny and rewarding experiences that it would be hard to choose just one,” she says.

Ms. Padalino is in charge of running the Clinical/Research Mineral Metabolism Laboratory of the Jane and Charles Pak Center of Mineral Metabolism and Clinical Research. Her responsibilities include management, concierge, and liaison for the scientific enterprise. Ms. Padalino says the “daily challenges” and the laboratory team keep her at UT Southwestern.

Ms. Padalino began her career in 1980 working in the Department of Physiology with Dr. John Reeves.

She says co-workers would describe her as productive, valuable, economical, clever, energetic, and funny. They might also use a rather interesting analogy to describe her. “Tim Allen from Home Improvement,” she says, referring to the lead character from the popular 1990s TV show. “There is nothing that will stop me from a challenge.”

Ms. Padalino hopes to be known as someone who “helped people and made them smile.”

When she isn’t working in the research lab, she enjoys sharing information about nutrition, healthy eating, and exercise. She also enjoys biking, kayaking, music, gardening, dancing, and painting. When she retires, she wants to “enjoy life – read, travel, and take fun classes.”

Ms. Padalino and her husband enjoy family, which includes a daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and a granddaughter.

Marilyn Pitzinger

By Steve Lansdale

Marilyn Pitzinger has cared for a great number of patients in the three decades she has worked as a Registered Nurse II in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab – patients who require a diagnosis or need to have stents implanted to open heart arteries.

Transplant patients, though, hold a very special place in her heart because she gets to care for them over a long period of time.

“We develop close relationships with these patients,” she says. “We get to know them and their families during the weeks or months that they are in the hospital, waiting for a suitable heart, and then post-transplant when they come in for biopsies on a regular schedule to check for rejection.”

Ms. Pitzinger, who transitioned her duties to William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital from St. Paul University Hospital when it closed, says her role is similar to that of an OR nurse, making sure patients are stable and comfortable, and she provides any needed medication and/or sedation, and addresses any complications that might arise.

Ms. Pitzinger worked in the surgical ICU at St. Paul before joining the Cath Lab there in 1986, moving to Clements University Hospital in 2014. “What’s amazing is the advances in technology over time that have increased our ability to care for patients with even the most complicated cases,” she says.

Travel is one of her favorite activities, and she and her husband of 40 years, Joe, have traveled throughout Europe. “Our most interesting trip was to Assisi in Italy, learning how the monks and nuns live there.”

Ms. Pitzinger lived in France from age 3 to 9, but she’s no longer fluent in French. “I lost it over the years,” she says.

Karyne Schindel

By Harriet Blake

A longtime Clinical Lead Registered Nurse, Karyne Schindel currently serves on the third-floor surgery unit at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

In this position, she is the team leader for heart and lung surgeries and transplants in the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. Her career at the Medical Center started in 1980 as a nurse on the neurology floor at St. Paul University Hospital.

Ms. Schindel considers her colleagues her work family, and believes she and her clinical team are instrumental in making patients’ lives better.

Her most memorable duties include being the scrub nurse for Dr. W. Steves Ring on one of the first heart transplants as well as the first lung transplant at St. Paul. Dr. Ring started the transplant program at the hospital. n her work, Ms. Schindel makes sure things flow smoothly for the physicians who perform various forms of heart surgery, including coronary arterial graft surgery, valve surgery, and aortic dissection surgery. She remembers that in honor of the 100th heart transplant surgery, Dr. Ring took time to introduce his patients to the OR team who assisted in their surgeries. Ms. Schindel said she and her colleagues appreciated the gesture, since most patients don’t interact with the OR staff – “they come in and go to sleep.”

Outside of work, she is not afraid of adventure. In her younger years, she enjoyed white-water canoeing and rafting, as well as rappelling down mountains. Ms. Schindel also is a certified scuba diver. She currently counts photography and traveling as two of her favorite hobbies.

She is married to Nic Schindel, has one stepdaughter, two sisters, and a 90-year-old mother. It is a close-knit family, all living on the same street.

Ms. Schindel says she was able to cope with the long hours during her early career because of the support of her husband, who “always had dinner waiting for me whenever I got home.”

Maybell Staten

By Steve Lansdale

For Maybell Staten, working at UT Southwestern is a bit of a sister act. One sister used to work here, and another plans to retire in August.

But her siblings aren’t the only draw: she has deep affection for her co-workers – a group so close-knit and enjoyable that she says her job sometimes doesn’t even feel like work.

Now a Laboratory Technical Assistant II, in Internal Medicine/Molecular Cardiology, Ms. Staten’s role has varied widely through her 35 years here. She originally worked in a research laboratory, and then held positions in housekeeping and the library before returning to a lab. In her current position, she fulfills numerous duties.

“I do a little of everything, from washing glassware, to running errands, to making media, to doing tissue cultures,” Ms. Staten says. “I love working there.

“One of my favorite parts of being at UT Southwestern was going to the parties they had at the plaza on North Campus in the 1980s, where everybody came together from all of the different Departments.”

Outside of work, Ms. Staten is passionate about her faith and her family, which includes her husband and her daughter, who is in 11th grade.

Perry Thompson

By Patrick Wascovich

A longtime Equipment Technician, Perry Thompson currently serves in the dialysis area at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

In this position, his duties include transporting and interacting with patients. His career at the Medical Center started in 1980 as a laundry handler at St. Paul University Hospital.

Mr. Thompson says “friendly people” are the reason his career has lasted at the Medical Center. Still, some faces are memories now. “I miss some of my old co-workers who have moved on,” he says.

Current co-workers would describe Mr. Thompson as “a friendly person who likes to talk to people.” He also takes pride in working hard and helping others when needed.

Although he’s looking forward to retirement, Mr. Thompson says he’s still surprising others. “They are surprised with how much fun they have around me,” he says. “I want to be funny, happy, and smiling all the time.”

In his free time, Mr. Thompson is active with his church.

Shirley Zwinggi

By Steve Lansdale

When Shirley Zwinggi started working at UT Southwestern in 1980 as a Recruiter in Human Resources, the Medical Center was much smaller, only encompassing what is now the South Campus.

“North Campus was just a field of grass – there was nothing there,” she says. “Now, to see the growth there and also the addition of William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, it is amazing how much everything has changed, how much our campus has grown.”

Growth is also the theme of Ms. Zwinggi’s career. After recruiting for the HR Department, she worked as an Employee Relations Representative, Benefits Manager, Employment Manager, and as Assistant Director of Employee Relations before assuming her current title of Administrative Manager for the Department of Surgery.

“I’m responsible for the human resources function for the Department – recruiting faculty and staff, employee engagement, and training.

“We have fantastic faculty and staff, and it’s exciting to be working with people who are saving lives and doing research that helps so many. In a way, I feel I’m a part of their important mission,” she says.

Ms. Zwinggi has chaired the Employee Recognition Committee for the past several years “It is a wonderful privilege to be able to recognize the staff whose loyalty and dedication have made UT Southwestern a premier institution.”

Ms. Zwinggi’s passion is travel, and she loves panda bears. Her dream after retirement involves being able to volunteer at the Wolong Panda Reserve in China.

Ocquinetta Sanders