Dr. Pamella Gronemeyer receives Outstanding Working Women of Illinois Award
Dr. Pamella Gronemeyer was one of three Outstanding Working Women of Illinois honored at the Illinois Federation of Business Women (IFBW) State Convention held in Champaign April 22-14.
This is the most prestigious award given by the state organization to honor women who have made significant contributions to their business and their community, and is one of the highest honors available to working women in Illinois. Gronemeyer was nominated by the Highland club chapter of IFBW.
Nominees are judged in six areas: education, professional/personal growth, career achievements and recognition for professional service, achievements and recognition for community service, achievements and contributions with regard to women’s issues, and regional, state, national and international contributions and influence.
“It means a lot to me,” Gronemeyer said. “I think it is good for our club and I think it is wonderful that the club nominated me. I am happy to be a representative for our club for the whole state. I am a small business owner and I have been in the community since 1998. We are a club that tries to do a lot for the community, like we offer scholarships for young women. I think that this is a good honor. We women need to be recognized as small business owners. We like to help out and do a lot for the people in the community.”
Raised in St. Louis, Mo., Gronemeyer graduated from Southwest High School in 1970. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Washington University, then her M.D. degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Her pathology residencies were served at Harvard Medical School’s hospital system and at Jewish Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. She became board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology in May 1981.
Dr. Gronemeyer is currently lab director and owner of SEMC Pathology LLC, which she established in Highland in 2000. SEMC provides full anatomic pathology services for several clinics and doctors’ offices in central and southern Illinois. A self-employed small business owner, Dr. Gronemeyer has six employees, five of which are women. In addition, she also serves as lab director or pathologist at six area hospitals.
In recognition for contributions in her field she received the “Soul of Medicine Award” from the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for a National Health Program in Illinois in 2015. She has co-authored several articles which have been published in American Journals of Clinical Pathology, Human Pathology,Transfusion, and Pediatrics.
Gronemeyer serves on the Illinois Single Payer Coalition Board of Directors as vice president, is co-president of the southern division of Physicians for National Health Programs-Illinois, and a liaison member of the Missourians for Single Payer Board of Directors.
Active in her community, she has served on the Advisory Board for Madison County Health Department, participates in various community education programs on women’s health issues and health fairs sponsored by the hospitals she serves, and actively worked on the Madison County Aids Task Force when it was established. She has been a member of the Highland local organization of Illinois Federation of Business Women since 2005 and was awarded the Woman of Achievement Award in 2014 by that organization.
She and her family are also avid supporters of the Highland Animal Shelter, the St. Louis Zoo and Marlin Perkins Society.
Dr. Gronemeyer is an organizer and member of Progressive Democrats of America, organizer of Southern Illinois People for Progress, and organizer of Chapter “Move to Amend.” A progressive, political activist, she has led rallies and demonstrations fostering health care issues and has lobbied in Washington, D.C., with Doctors for America-Healthcare Now and the American Medical Association every year since 2006.
In the 2014 election year, she participated in Glen-Carbon Edwardsville Halloween Parade as “The SEMC Pathology Witch” to promote getting out the women’s vote, reminding women that “When women vote, women win, and when women win, the country wins.”
Dr. Gronemeyer makes her home in Glen Carbon, with her husband, Stephen Kriegh, an attorney, and their daughter, Rebecca.
Two other southern Illinois women were also recognized as OWWI’s at the convention — Debra Busey, Champaign County administrator, and Judge Ericka Sanders of Centralia.
