The Mercer Island School District will present its second annual Pathfinder Awards to three graduates of Mercer Island High School whose achievements, strength of character, and citizenship inspire and challenge today’s youth to make significant contributions to humankind, according to a district press release.
Patricia (Trish) Coffey (’79), Leslie Hendricks Fall (’81) and Adrian Hanauer (’84) will be honored at the Mercer Island Schools Foundation’s Breakfast of Champions on April 25. A permanent Pathfinder Awards display has been created at Mercer Island High School to recognize the three recipients, alongside previously recognized distinguished graduates.
Coffey is a program advisor and leader of the Health Technologies for Women and Children group at PATH, a nonprofit global-health organization based in Seattle, Hendricks Fall is pediatrician and professor in the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and co-founder of MedU and Hanauer is majority owner of 2016 MLS Cup champions Seattle Sounders FC.
“These award winners exemplify the profound impact our high school graduates can have in our local and global communities,” said Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano. “Each of them is a pathfinder aspiring to make this world a better place.”
The recipients were selected from over 40 nominations submitted by the community at large and chosen by a selection committee comprised of a high school teacher, two high school students, two former MISD board members, a retired teacher, a city councilmember, community members and alumni, and officials from the district and the Mercer Island Schools Foundation.
Coffey has pioneered user-centered product development for reproductive and maternal newborn health technologies. Her “desire to make a difference in the world has been characterized by her dedication, enthusiasm and selfless efforts to improve the lives of women and children in low and middle-income countries through the development of lifesaving health innovations,” according to the press release. She collaborates frequently with Ministries of Health in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, the World Health Organization and the United Nations.
She holds a doctorate in Applied Population Research from the University of Exeter in England, Masters in Public Health from UCLA and Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Washington.
Hendricks Fall is a nationally recognized expert in faculty development, learning design and use of technology in medical education. As co-founder and executive director of MedU, she is transforming medical education by working with most of the nation’s medical schools to bring virtual case studies and online learning to students.
MedU works to develop innovative tools to educate tomorrow’s physicians to meet the needs of today and tomorrow’s healthcare environment. The non-profit has advanced medical education through collaborative development, maintenance, and research of innovative and comprehensive training programs. Today, more than 40,000 students take MedU courses.
After receiving her medical degree from Dartmouth and completing a pediatric residency at the University of California at Irvine, she completed a medical education fellowship at Michigan State University.
Now majority owner of Seattle Sounders FC, Hanauer first kept the flame of professional soccer alive in Seattle before helping to reignite the community’s passion for the game with the arrival of a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in 2009, and culminating with the Sounders’ first MLS Cup championship in 2016.
Hanauer also served as the club’s General Manager, leading the organization to extraordinary success during its first six years of MLS history. During that span, Sounders FC claimed one Supporters’ Shield and four Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cups, while simultaneously setting the seven-highest single-season attendance totals in North American soccer history.
Hanauer spearheads the RAVE Foundation, a non-profit organization working to build small and innovative soccer fields dedicated for free play in neighborhoods throughout the city. Additionally, Hanauer served as the Honorary Chair for Washington Youth Soccer’s 50th anniversary celebration in September 2016.
For more information, contact Craig Degginger at 206-236-4514.
For a story on the 2016 Pathfinder Award recipients, click here.
