
Sandra H. Matthews played a pivotal role in the work of the National Academies, including the development of the African American History Program. Photo: Courtesy of the family of Sandra H. Matthews
In October, the NAM presented the Sandra H. Matthews Cecil Award for Administrative Excellence to a National Academies staff member. Learn about the woman who inspired the honor.
By Jamie Durana
Sandra Rubylee Houston Matthews was a force of nature at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), now the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), for nearly 30 years. Matthews was a trusted advisor to five IOM presidents and drove the creation of the National Academies’ groundbreaking African American History Program. In 2010, on the occasion of her retirement, the Sandra H. Matthews Cecil Award for Administrative Excellence was created to recognize superlative contributions by NAM staff members and honor Matthews’ legacy. Presented each year at the NAM Annual Meeting, it remains the academy’s only award to bear a staff member’s name. Sandra Matthews passed away in 2022.
‘A rock-solid figure’
Harvey Fineberg, president of the IOM from 2002 to 2014, remembers Matthews as a “friend as much as a coworker” who mentored staff across the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “Sandra Matthews was a rock-solid figure at the National Academies, enabling the success of one IOM president after another,” Fineberg recalls. Kenneth Shine, president of the IOM from 1992 to 2002, also remembers Matthews’ gift for ensuring success in the president’s office and her inspiring kindness. Matthews “had a wonderful way with people” and was “admired and respected by everyone with whom she had any contact,” Shine says.
Matthews’ former colleagues recall her warm nature and uncanny ability to navigate an enormous organization and its numerous moving parts with ease. J.D. Talasek, director of Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS), remembers that Matthews had an impressive awareness of the inner workings of the National Academies. That savviness was influential. She was “a real powerhouse of a person,” he says.
NAM membership and governance deputy director Donna Duncan recalls Matthews’ remarkable ability to make things happen – even when the odds seemed long. In 2002, the committee planning a Black History Month celebration was charged with getting Denyce Graves, renowned American mezzo-soprano and opera singer, to perform at the National Academies. Many members of the planning committee thought this sounded impossible, recalls Duncan, but “Sandra made it happen.” Her ability to get people to say ‘yes’ was a remarkable skill, but she was always paying the help she received forward, Duncan notes. She says Matthews was “fond of taking people under her wing.”
Creating the African American History Program
Matthews’ leadership in developing the African American History Program (AAHP), which Talasek now helps to manage, is perhaps her most enduring legacy at the National Academies. The AAHP organizes events, exhibits, hosts a portrait gallery, and maintains a collection of online biographies.

On February 25, 2011, students from Grover Washington Jr. Middle School in Philadelphia attended a lecture by Warren Washington at the National Academies’ Keck Center organized as part of the African American History Program. Photo: Courtesy of CPNAS
Matthews was a driving force behind the creation of the AAHP in 1986. “She led the charge,” says Talasek, and got other staff members involved in an effort to collect portraits of Black scientists and raise the profile of their contributions to the scientific enterprise and society. Talasek says that Matthews was committed to growing awareness of the role of Black scientists among everyone at the National Academies. She chaired the AAHP, and Duncan recalls that she had a zeal for expanding its reach. Matthews created opportunities for local high school students to attend AAHP events and learn about careers in health and medicine and organized concerts or lectures for inductees when their portraits were added to the growing gallery. Duncan adds that Matthews “thought about special touches to make every event better and more personal.”

Program flyer from a 2006 concert by the Marcus Roberts Trio sponsored by the African American History Program. Photo: Courtesy of CPNAS
Alana Quinn, senior program associate with CPNAS, collaborated with the AAHP on annual Black History Month concerts from 2005 to 2013. Quinn says the concerts, held in the Fred Kavli Auditorium of the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C., were immensely popular and often garnered media attention. Performing artists like soprano Harolyn Blackwell and quintet Imani Winds attracted hundreds of attendees, even when the winter weather was uncooperative. Despite a major snowstorm in 2006, Quinn recalls, a performance by the Marcus Roberts Trio drew 300 people.
Over the years, the AAHP has grown and taken on new shape to meet growing interest. The portrait gallery Matthews initiated is available online and, in 2022, “The Creative Mind” exhibit—a traveling display with panels dedicated to influential Black scientists—marked ten years of success.
An enduring legacy
Common themes emerge when Matthews’ former colleagues talk about her: warmth, care for others, humor, skill, and outside-the-box thinking. “Above all, Sandra took joy in her family, especially in celebrating every milestone and achievement of her grandchildren,” Fineberg says. Matthews had a knack for making everyone feel “included and supported.”
Through the award that bears her name, Matthews continues to make an impression. Her name is synonymous with unusual dedication to the mission of the organization, the cause of equity and inclusion, and the well-being of others. Reflecting on Matthews’ contributions during her decades with organization, Talasek says “‘force of nature’ is an understatement.”
Learn more about the Sandra H. Matthews Cecil Award for Administrative Excellence and this year’s honoree.