1199SEIU member Genevieve E. Smith has been named to a new SEIU Healthcare Worker COVID Advisory Committee that will advise the Biden Administration’s COVID Task Force. The Committee will ensure that the experiences and perspectives of healthcare workers are included in the Biden administration’s COVID response: they will make recommendations and virtually meet with Task Force members as they plan the continuing battle against COVID-19.

“I have knowledge of how testing and science work,” she says. “Sometimes the sciences are misunderstood, so [the Committee] must have people with a background in science. It’s also important that I work in a hot spot.”

Smith has been a Clinical Laboratory Scientist at NY-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan for 38 years. Though she planned to pursue a career in nursing, a career day in high school introduced her to the laboratory sciences; she was captivated by lab work and its ability to unlock the mysteries of the human body. Smith specializes in immunology, where her work has focused on multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer that affects the blood, bones, and immune system.

Today, like all healthcare workers, Smith is largely focused on COVID and ways to treat and contain the virus. “I want to stop it, so we won’t continue to lose so many lives,” she says.

A Union delegate for over 25 years, Smith credits her late mother with instilling in her the desire to advocate for herself and others. “I think this is really important,” said Smith. “We must be devoted to protection and safety for healthcare workers and for everyone.”

1199 Magazine | November & December 2020