University of Virginia 2025 Sustainability Leadership Award winners
The University of Virginia 2025 Sustainability Leadership Awards will recognize 11 nominees across the University on May 2, including the School of Medicine, for their outstanding contributions to sustainability efforts at UVA and in our community this past year. Awardees were chosen by a selection committee facilitated by the Office for Sustainability.
“We are impressed at the depth of nominations from individuals and groups we received again this year, from across UVA, the region, and across sectors, those who are saving energy and reducing waste in collaborative ways, while providing important and innovative services. The nominees’ and winners’ individual and collective impacts are inspiring,” said Andrea Trimble, Director of the UVA Office for Sustainability.
The Sustainability Leadership Awards honor individuals and groups who exhibit an outstanding dedication to advancing environmentally friendly and cost-effective practices and solutions. These winners exemplify creativity and resourcefulness in work related to community engagement, stewardship of resources such as energy and water, discovery through teaching and/or research, and collaboration. Award winners’ work aligns with UVA’s 2030 Sustainability Plan, the University’s commitment to making the world a better place and being a good neighbor locally and globally, both today and in the future.
Winner, pediatrician and UVA School of Medicine faculty member Dr. Samantha Ahdoot said, “I am so honored to receive this award. Physicians and medical students need to understand the intersections between climate change and human health to care for their patients. There is rising recognition of the harm caused by healthcare waste and energy consumption, and the benefits of environmental stewardship. I deeply appreciate the recognition of our efforts to prepare the next generation of doctors to practice medicine in our changing world.”
Congratulations to Dr. Ahdoot and all the winners of 2025 Sustainability Leadership Awards!
Community Awards
- Bellair Farm – Despite losing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of produce, livestock, and equipment during Hurricane Helene, this sustainability-focused local farm managed to donate nearly $39,000 worth of food to five local partner organizations last year.
- Flipp, Inc. – Flipp has an innovative and inclusive approach to growing the clean energy workforce through empowering formerly incarcerated individuals, veterans, and rural communities with a nationally-accredited training program that includes solar installation, HVAC maintenance and weatherization.
- LEAP (Local Energy Alliance Program) – This small but mighty nonprofit organization weatherized 185 low-income households and provided 217 no-cost solar installations in Charlottesville and Albemarle County in 2024. The free weatherization program resulted in saving 231,420 kWh, the equivalent of powering twenty 2,000-square-foot homes in Virginia for a year!
- Make a Change Club, Albemarle High School – This student club is creatively tackling waste. Members collect discarded plastic bags from around Virginia, convert them into plastic yarn, and then crochet them into sleeping mats. So far, they have donated 12 mats to homeless shelters— keeping over 8,400 bags out of landfills.
Samantha Ahdoot, MD
Faculty Awards
- Samantha Ahdoot, MD – Dr. Ahdoot is a practicing pediatrician, faculty at the UVA School of Medicine, and co-founder of Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action, where she leads advocacy efforts for climate-resilient policies, education on climate-health connections, and other pioneering work to protect community health and advance climate change solutions.
- Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann – These Architecture School professors lead the Before Building Laboratory which aims to advance sustainable construction by pioneering building materials that can be broadly adopted to minimize construction waste.
Staff Awards
- Tabatha Gilbert and Alicia White – After leading a successful effort to reduce single-use plastic patient belongings bags (which has kept over 7000 bags out of landfill), in 2024 these two UVA nurses created a framework for getting more nurses involved in sustainable healthcare practice through a new Nursing Professional Governance Organization (NPGO) Sustainability Champion role for departments across the hospital.
- Ash Morton – As a Career Counselor in the UVA Career Center, Ash has worked tirelessly to advance student access to sustainability jobs, creating strategic partnerships, industry-focused events, and robust employment resources.
Student Awards
- Zack Landsman –UVA PhD student and co-founder of JunkLabz, Zack Landsman has helped shred and re-use 1,300 pounds of plastic from leftover plastic pipette tip boxes, taught an architecture course where students used recycled materials to create furniture, expanded collection to over 30 labs, and developed a circular design class that earned a distinguished teaching award.
- Lincoln Lewis – As a UVA PhD student he worked as a year-long volunteer to update Scottsville’s Comprehensive Plan. He collaboratively developed creative planning frameworks and an engagement process that educated residents and captured their views to guide the town’s growth responsibly.
- Student Clinicians for Climate Action (SCCA) – These School of Medicine and School of Nursing students are influencing medical education and practice to address climate change-driven health challenges, such as heat illness and injuries from extreme weather. They also hold an advocacy day with state lawmakers and prepare the annual Planetary Health Report Card that evaluates UVA‘s curriculum.
Filed Under: Honors & Awards