ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – During Monday night’s Roanoke City Council meeting, leaders took the time to announce this year’s Citizen of the Year.

Dr. Cheryl Hartman has focused her career on science-driven approaches to the prevention of school dropouts, teen pregnancy, obesity and substance misuse.

Hartman has also worked with the area’s youth until she shifted into the addiction treatment field.

As a Junior League volunteer, Dr. Hartman brought a teen pregnancy prevention program to the Star City.

She was also named as the Director of Youth Development at Family Service of the Roanoke Valley where he worked for 15 years.

After she retired from Family Service of Roanoke Valley, Dr. Hartman began her work with Carilion Clinic – establishing an adolescent addiction treatment program called “Back on Track.”

Currently, Dr. Hartman is a faculty member of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and serves as the school’s grants project director.

Additionally, she has led grant projects, including a childhood obesity prevention program that created the school gardens in Roanoke’s elementary schools.

She, and her husband, Dr. David Hartman, worked to develop Carilion’s office-based opioid treatment program where she serves as program manager.

Dr. Hartman was also recognized by city council for her work as an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Roanoke where she served as president during the 2019-2020 club year and, under her leadership, the club adopted many of its programs to help the community during the ongoing pandemic.

This included recruiting volunteers for vaccination clinics, allocating grant funds to local charities, and starting a partnership with Roanoke City Public Libraries to make video books available to teachers and the children within the community.

On top of that, between 2018 and 2020, Dr. Hartman successfully led the campaign to raise funds and construct the Centennial Playground in Northwest Roanoke which Kiwanis donated to the City of Roanoke upon its completion, which cost around $400,000.

She is also leading a second phase of this playground to rehabilitate nearby Horton Branch with natural plantings, a walking trail, and environmental education facilities.

Dr. Hartman has also been involved with a number of charities and was instrumental in founding the Community Youth Program out of St. John’s Episcopal Church.