Mary Black Foundation (Spartanburg, SC)
The Mary Black Foundation has created the Dr. George Newby, Jr. Health Equity Leadership Award in honor of Dr. George Paul Archie Newby, Jr. The award will carry with it a $25,000 unrestricted grant and will be provided to an outstanding individual or organization working to advance health equity in our community.
To learn more about Dr. Newby, the award, and how to nominate an individual or organization, click here.
CDC Foundation (Atlanta, GA)
David Satcher, MD, PhD, 16th U.S. Surgeon General, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Founder of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute, received the 2021 Fries Prize for Improving Health. Dr. Satcher was honored for his outstanding achievements and lifetime commitment to eliminating health disparities and championing health equity for all.
The Fries Prize for Improving Health award was presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting. It recognizes an individual who has made major accomplishments in health improvement with emphasis on recent contributions to health in the United States. It is intended for an individual who has done the most to improve health for the greatest number of people. The Fries Prize for Improving Health award is $60,000.
Throughout Dr. Satcher’s career he has held firm to eliminating health disparities throughout the United States, and this focus is evident in his public health leadership roles. He served as the 16th U.S. surgeon general from 1998 to 2002 while also serving as the 10th assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, making him only the second person in history to have held both positions simultaneously.
His tenure of public service includes serving as director of CDC from 1993 to 1998 and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. During his time at CDC, he spearheaded initiatives that have increased childhood immunization rates, upgraded the nation’s capability to respond to emerging infectious diseases and laid the groundwork for a new Early Warning System to detect and prevent food-borne illnesses.
In 2006, Dr. Satcher founded the Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and is currently a senior advisor there. SHLI’s mission is to create systemic change at the intersection of policy and equity by focusing on three priority areas: the political determinants of health, health system transformation, and mental and behavioral health.
Dr. Satcher has held top leadership positions at the Charles R. Drew University for Medicine and Science, Meharry Medical College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. He has been a Macy Foundation Fellow, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar, and a senior visiting fellow of the Kaiser Family Foundation. In 2005, Dr. Satcher was appointed to serve on the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
He has received over 50 honorary degrees and numerous distinguished honors including top awards from the National Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Ronald Davis Special Recognition Award from the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the Symbol of H.O.P.E. Award for health promotion and disease prevention. Dr. Satcher received the Benjamin E. Mays Trailblazer Award and the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award for contributions to the health of humankind from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
The James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation’s mission of the foundation is to identify and honor individuals, organizations or institutions, which have made great contributions to the health of the public. The foundation seeks to reward accomplishment rather than promise, practicality rather than theory.
The CDC Foundation partners with the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation, which established and funds the award. As of 2016, the CDC Foundation manages and administers the Fries Foundation’s public health award programs, which include the Fries Prize for Improving Health and the Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award.
Contact: Amy Tolchinsky at 404.523.3486.
Maine Health Access Foundation (Augusta, ME)
The Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF) has named two awardees for the Dr. Wendy J. Wolf Health Leadership Award in 2021, having paused the award in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2021 recognizes both Jess Maurer, Executive Director of the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA), and Lisa Sockabasin, Director of Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness (WPHW), as recipients. Both awardees were recognized at MeHAF’s Joint Board of Trustees and Community Advisory Committee meeting on October 14 and each organization was given a $10,000 grant as part of the honor.
Jess Maurer, a Maine Council on Aging founder and now Executive Director, has framed the vision of a Maine where we can all live healthy, engaged, and secure lives with choices and opportunities as we age in our homes and communities, a vision embraced by the MCOA Board of Directors, members, and partners. The MCOA has grown from 27 foundational members to over 120 members today. Through her work on the Municipal Data Across Sectors for Healthy Aging Initiative, the Equity and Healthy Aging Initiative, and the Power in Aging Project, she puts her commitment to creating healthier communities and building an age-positive culture in Maine free of ageism into action. The MCOA network became critical in responding to emerging and ongoing needs of older people and service providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, Ms. Maurer curated and shared needed information, engaged in multi-sector problem solving, and coordinated advocacy efforts on emerging issues, with special focus on Maine’s care workforce.
Lisa Sockabasin has led Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness for nearly five years and previously served as the Director of the State of Maine Office of Health Equity for a decade. She has used her knowledge and skills to help realize many dreams that Wabanaki leaders have had for their communities for generations. Ms. Sockabasin builds momentum for new initiatives through long term, trusting relationships with members of her community, which drive all of her work. She has also built strong connections with colleagues in sectors across the state that help achieve WPHW’s ambitious goals. She measures success in more formal ways, but also through people’s interest in participating in whatever innovation is being created, be they community members, people in need of support, or people with support to share, knowing many people are all of these things.
The Dr. Wendy J. Wolf Health Leadership Award will be made annually until 2026 to honor the legacy of MeHAF’s founding CEO, Wendy Wolf, who stepped down in October 2016. The award honors her 15-year tenure by recognizing the exceptional leadership and achievements of nonprofit leaders working to promote access to quality health care and improve the health of Maine people, especially those who are uninsured and underserved.
Contact: Jeb Murphy at 207.620.8266 x117 or jmurphy@mehaf.org.