Dawn Miskus is strongly recommended for a position involving group counseling or organizational work. She started as an interviewer for a study on atypical empathy in children with conduct disorder, displaying a natural ability to connect with participants of all ages. She was later promoted to project director due to her excellent organizational skills, leadership, attention to detail, and project management. The letter writer found her to be competent, reliable, and detail-oriented with strong work ethic and interpersonal skills. She is seen as an outstanding potential asset for any practice or organization.

1. University of Chicago
Department of Public Health Sciences (MC 2000) (773) 702-2582
telephone
5841 South Maryland Avenue (773) 702-1979 fax
Chicago, IL 60637 blahey@ uchicago.edu
April 12, 2016
General Letter for Group Counseling Practice or Organization:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter to give my strongest recommendation to Dawn Miskus. Dawn
started as an interviewer for my study, "Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience of Atypical
Empathy in Conduct Disorder" in 2010. In this role, she performed structured diagnostic
interviewing of 9-11 year old children and their parents. This was a challenging task for
interviewers because the children met diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder, attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other co-existing mental disorders.
Dawn has a natural way about her and she connects and builds rapport quickly with
individuals of all ages. She displays a good balance of empathy, compassion, intuition
with exceptional organizational skills, tremendous foresight and problem-solving abilities.
There is a natural kindness about her which was evident in her interactions with me, her
peers, and the adults and children participants with whom she closely worked.
After a year in this role, Dawn was promoted to Project Director for the study due to her
excellent work and mature leadership skills. The protocol for such a study is very precise
and her excellent organizational skills, attention to detail and project management abilities
were fully utilized to track the data and maintain tracking systems, informed consents and
disclosure agreements during the course of the study. I knew I could trust Dawn
completely with the confidential study details. I found her to be competent, prompt,
reliable and very detail oriented. She has a strong work ethic and solid interpersonal skills.
She managed 11 other interviewers and worked independently in an isolated upstairs
office apart from my office, working well with other interviewers and fMRI technicians in
the BRIC (Brain Resource Imaging Center). She is a self-starter who recruited
participants for the study from mental health institutions and the university's hospitals.
After the study was completed I sought Dawn out for a special follow-up grant project
where she worked remotely for several months performing follow-up outreaches to the
participant families. Again, she performed excellently.
Dawn has a high level of commitment to excellence, and I think she would be an
outstanding asset to any practice or organization.
1

2. Sincerely,
Benjamin B. Lahey, Ph.D.
Irving B. Harris Professor of Epidemiology, Psychiatry, and
Behavioral Neuroscience
2