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Recognizing extraordinary federal workers: An awards program highlights their contributions from HIV clinics to space exploration amid challenging civil service conditions

Recognizing outstanding civil servants for over two decades, The Partnership for Public Service presents the Service to America medals.

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Recognizing extraordinary federal workers, an awards program highlights their achievements in HIV...
Recognizing extraordinary federal workers, an awards program highlights their achievements in HIV clinics and space exploration amidst challenging civil service conditions.

Recognizing extraordinary federal workers: An awards program highlights their contributions from HIV clinics to space exploration amid challenging civil service conditions

Dr. Laura Cheever, a renowned figure in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment, has been honoured with the 2025 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America medal. This prestigious award, sponsored by The Partnership for Public Service since 2002, recognises outstanding federal employees for their significant contributions to the nation.

Dr. Cheever began her involvement with treating HIV while doing medical training in San Francisco in the 1990s. Her career took a pivotal turn when she moved to Baltimore, a time when medicines started emerging that stopped an HIV diagnosis from automatically meaning a death sentence. For over two decades, she has led the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, providing medical and other support to low-income people with HIV.

In 2024, the Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a record-breaking 90.6% of individuals with HIV receiving medical care through Ryan White were virally suppressed. Studies on asteroid samples brought back by OSIRIS-REx, another 2025 honoree's project, have found molecules key to life, suggesting that the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system. This increases the odds that life could have formed on other planets and moons, according to NASA.

However, Dr. Cheever expresses concerns about the current environment's impact on healthcare, particularly for individuals identifying as LGBTQ+. She worries that people may be scared to seek healthcare due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Proposed cuts to public health care funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) may impede progress in HIV treatment.

The Trump administration's cuts to agency workforces and efforts to weaken the independence of the civil service were factors in the 2025 awards program. Dr. Cheever, who is nearly six months into a "long-planned retirement" that was "not related to elections," is unsure if she could tell potential recruits about the same opportunities and core mission in the current administration.

Another 2025 honouree, Richard Burns, was recognised for leading the team behind OSIRIS-REx, a spacecraft that brought back the largest asteroid sample to Earth. The name of the other 2025 award winner from the government recognised for team leadership at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is not provided in the available search results.

Dr. Cheever's retirement comes at a time when she is concerned about the ability of agencies to bring on top-tier talent in the future. She has previously been able to recruit many talented individuals into federal government across various administrations. As she steps away, her legacy in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment and her commitment to public service will undoubtedly continue to inspire future generations.

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