Zinkovich Presents National Award-Winning Essay on Bioterrorism Preparedness

By Kathryn Podolsky

Lisa Zinkovich, a University of Central Florida at Cocoa graduate student in health services administration, will present her award-winning essay on health-care providers' preparedness for bioterror events at the annual meeting of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) held March 1-4 in Chicago.

Zinkovich's essay placed second in ACHE's annual Hill-Rom Management Essay Competition, which includes student entries from throughout the United States. Her presentation is considered a highlight of the ACHE meeting, the "Congress on Healthcare Management." As an essay winner, she will receive an award of $2,000.

Titled, "Bioterror Events: Pre-emptive Strategies for Healthcare Executives," Zinkovich's essay proposes strategies to guide health-care executives in meeting the difficult and unprecedented challenges that terrorism involving biological agents now presents.

"I have had a keen interest in the topic of bioterrorism," said Zinkovich, who is the laboratory manager for a large physician group, Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates. "Our laboratory participates as a 'sentinel' lab [used for early detection of suspected bioterrorism agents] in cooperation with the Laboratory Response Network and the Florida Department of Health."

The Hill-Rom Management Essay Competition intends to stimulate the ability of future health-care executives to analyze important and timely issues crucial to their chosen professions.