Spotlight

Alberta Peugeot,
Occupational Health Services Manager

Spotlight Archive

“Life Is a Schoolhouse”

While in many ways she shares Forrest Gump’s optimistic outlook, finding delight and surprise in unexpected things, Alberta Peugeot’s take on life goes a step beyond. “Life is a schoolhouse,” she’s fond of saying. And she means it. She never stops learning and taking on new challenges, such as the National Cancer Institute at Frederick.

Manager of Occupational Health Services (OHS) since October, Ms. Peugeot has very quickly learned the ins and outs of her job. In one sense, it has been easy because her previous work environments were similar—in such things as numbers of employees served, OSHA reporting responsibilities, case management and workers’ compensation and disability, and in working closely with human resources departments.

However, in another sense, she often finds herself refreshing her knowledge of research terminology and learning new ones. In a recent interview, she commented, “Biomedical research is a unique occupational setting. There’s such a wealth of knowledge here. I really enjoy the opportunity to learn more. In this job, there’s a research component that I find very interesting.”

As with exploring the proverbial box of chocolates and never knowing what you’ll find until you bite into one, Ms. Peugeot takes delight in the variety that working at NCI-Frederick brings, but said, “The thing that I find most interesting is the ability to work with the OHS staff here and working as part of a team; there is a great team throughout NCI.”

Not only does she work closely with her colleagues at OHS, but also with those in the umbrella directorate, Environment, Health, and Safety. “I sit on the Institutional Biosafety Committee, and that’s a very integral part of OHS, because we look at how new research is going to impact the employee, and what risk, if any, the employee may have,” she said.

Ms. Peugeot believes in a strong work ethic and appreciates companies that are innovative and that take pride in training their employees. She noted that both UPS and Eastman-Kodak, companies for which she previously worked, “didn’t just teach you the core business; they encouraged you to develop interpersonal skills, which is an important component to working in a team environment and they used a variety of training techniques to encourage development.”

She also looks for mentoring opportunities in her work, both to learn and to pass on what she has learned to someone else. “I’ve had a lot of good mentors who’ve been very helpful and have taken the time to teach me and give me opportunities to grow. I think the OHS staff do a great job. They’re teaching me the biomedical research aspects which are so unique to this job. And I find that tremendously interesting. I wouldn’t take a job without a learning curve, I don’t think.”

From her years of experience in occupational and clinical practice, Ms. Peugeot has concluded that “If you take care of your employees, it always takes care of the bottom line. I like NCI-Frederick because we care about the employee and we’re able to nurture that. We have a responsibility and role to protect the worker in the work environment and to comply with all the regulations. Foremost, employees need to understand that OHS is a benefit for them, and we’re here to serve them, making sure that they are working in a safe environment. Although we can’t do primary care, we do have a preventative medicine role in that we try to counsel the people we see regarding their life style risk factors, such as diabetes and hypertension.”

She continued, “If you can prevent a disease, that’s wonderful. However, if you develop a disease, we try to show you how best to control it; we’re trying to educate people about their health and what illnesses they can prevent, by putting on wellness programs and trying to encourage people to eat in a healthy way, and to exercise—all the things that we don’t all take time for. I take our role very seriously, as do the rest of the OHS staff. If we tell you something, we have a responsibility to have researched it, know about it, and give you accurate information about it.”

Just as she demands challenge and variety in her work, Ms. Peugeot is a woman of many interests. She loves reading, music, and antiques, primarily furniture, clothing, and jewelry. She has a keen interest in antique linens and jewelry and finds unique ways to use them. For example, she collects antique linen handkerchiefs embroidered and lace-edged, and makes little bonnets for her friends’ newborn children and grandchildren. In years to come, the bonnets can easily be reverted to handkerchiefs and carried as a keepsake on the owner’s wedding day.

She concluded, talking about her job experiences and hobbies, “It’s a balance. I really do believe that. I wouldn’t want to be doing the same thing over and over. I believe that life is a schoolhouse. People who’ve been my mentors along the way have been very helpful, very supportive, and I want to pass that along to others, too.”

Maritta Grau, Writer/Editor
Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick

Nancy Parrish,
Editor
Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick

Photography Department
Scientific Publications, Graphics & Media
SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick

Jim Miller, Web Graphics and Development
Computer & Statistical Services
Data Management Services, Inc.
National Cancer Institute at Frederick