Distinguished Achievement Award

Conferred in appreciation of a lifetime of career accomplishments, recipients of the Distinguished Achievement Award exemplify dedication to the public health ideals of promoting health and preventing disease, and to the Rollins School of Public Health’s shared values and mission: To make the world healthier and more equitable through excellence in research, education, and practice.

When physician Landry Dongmo Tsague PhD, MD, MPH arrived at the Rollins School of Public Health in 2005 from his home in Cameroon as a William H. Foege Fellow in Global Health, his contributions to the field were already quite impressive. In the early years of his public health career, Dr. Tsague was pivotal in designing, rolling out, and directing for the Cameroonian Ministry of Public Health the national program to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV and strategies to prevent African children and their mothers from dying of AIDS. For this work, Dr. Tsague was honored with an International AIDS Society Young Investigator Award. Likewise, in addition to his education as a medical doctor at Cameroon's Medical School at the University of Yaounde I, Dr. Tsague had also completed training in clinical research in France and in applied health informatics and statistics in Benin.

Yet, Dr. Tsague considers his MPH education and experiences at Rollins as a Foege Fellow to be a major milestone in his public health journey, one that provided him with invaluable opportunities to fine-tune and deepen his research, scientific writing, and leadership skills. It was also during this time that his friend Raoul Kamadjeu, then a fellow at the CDC, proposed that “in their spare time” they should create and launch an open-source medical journal for African scientists, the Pan-African Medical Journal (PAMJ).

Dr. Tsague found his time at Emory essential to the upstart journal, and in 2006 launched the PAMJ. Dr. Tsague noted, "Even as an African medical student, I could see the missed opportunities that our generation and the generation before us had faced to make our work known by the global health community and to make our work used for global health." In less than 20 years, Dr. Tsague’s unwavering dedication, visionary leadership, innovative solutions, and service as a managing editor have helped establish the Pan-African Medical Journal as one of the leading open-access journals in global health, and according to Google Scholar, it is one of the most influential open-access medical journals in Africa.

Following his MPH program at Rollins, Dr. Tsague continued his groundbreaking work on HIV/AIDS, maternal, newborn, and child health, immunization, and health system strengthening, and earned his doctorate degree in public health from the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa. Renowned as a passionate advocate for adopting more efficacious solutions to end pediatric HIV and AIDS in Africa, Dr. Tsague has served communities in Zambia, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Congo, Senegal, and Equatorial Guinea. 

Dr. Tsague's achievements extend beyond his professional roles, and his deep commitment to volunteering his expertise is evident from his involvement in numerous scientific committees such as the International Conference on Public Health in Africa, the Experts’ Committee for the International Conference on AIDS and STI in Africa, and the WHO HIV/AIDS Guidelines Development. His dedication to knowledge dissemination and collaboration continues to positively impact the future of public health in Africa and beyond.

Dr. Tsague has co-authored over 18 manuscripts and received awards for his contributions to global public health including the New Investigator in Global Health Award from the Global Health Council, the Social Innovation for Public Health Impulse Fellowship award, and the Jakes Gerwel Award in Public Health from the University of Western Cape, South Africa.

"Making a significant contribution toward ending the AIDS epidemic in Africa during my lifetime has remained my personal aspiration —a commitment that was nurtured during my time at Rollins," remarked Dr. Tsague. It is evident that Dr. Tsague has already significantly contributed to this aspiration and continues to nurture this commitment. From leveraging strategic partnerships to fostering innovation for change in knowledge sharing and improving health outcomes to building coalitions with civil society and community actors to engaging adolescents and young people in his innovative approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, Dr. Tsague exemplifies dedication to the public health ideals of making the world healthier and more equitable through excellence in research, education, and practice. It is an honor to present Dr. Landry Dongmo Tsague with our 2022-2023 Distinguished Achievement Award.

Conferred in appreciation of a lifetime of career achievement, recipients of the Distinguished Achievement Award exemplify dedication to the public health ideals of promoting health and preventing disease. For 30 years Dr. Jodie Guest has served Emory, the state of Georgia, and communities around the globe as a thought-leader, pioneering researcher, and community champion. While her professional accomplishments are both exceptional and numerous, it is the life-changing contributions she has made as a renowned epidemiologist and her devotion to the improvement of health for all people that speak volumes about the far-reaching impact she has had on the field.

Similar to participants of the Iditarod, “The Last Great Race” and one of the most complicated sporting events in the world, Dr. Guest, who has served for over a decade as a race volunteer and as the 2021 and 2022 Iditarod COVID-19 Czar, brings the same passion, collaborative spirit, and tenacity to her numerous professional positions, leadership roles, and community engagement activities. In a recent interview for Faces of the Iditarod, she remarked, “What I know for sure in life is that when we work together, things are better.” One has only to look at Dr. Guest’s extraordinary credentials, accolades, affiliations, and activities to discern that excellence is her norm, teaching and uplifting students her gift, and bringing people together to address health disparities is her calling.

Since 2015, Dr. Guest has served as a Professor of Epidemiology and Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) and as a Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory University’s School of Medicine (SOM). In addition, she is an instructor for the CDC’s Epidemiology Intelligence Service program and is the Associate Program Director for the Emory PA Program, Director of the PA/MPH dual degree program, and Co-Director of Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center Office of Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice. Likewise, Dr. Guest is the co-founder of the HIV Atlanta VA Cohort Study (HAVACS) and previously, from 1999-2015, while an associate professor at both RSPH and SOM, she held the position of Director of HIV Research at the Atlanta VA Medical Center.

A natural to be tapped as a Faculty Advisor and Focus Area Lead for the Emory COVID-19 Response Collaborative (ECRC), Dr. Guest directs the ECRC outbreak response activities and has been instrumental in bringing COVID-19 testing, education, and healthcare outreach to underserved communities. When not teaching epidemiology to RSPH students, Dr. Guest spends much of her time organizing pop-up COVID-19 testing events across Georgia to address the systemic inequities that have placed excess risk with some of the most vulnerable populations, such as rural agricultural communities. Likewise, Dr. Guest is also leading a team of Emory graduate student volunteers to host several monthly canvassing and pop-up vaccination and testing events where homeless people in Atlanta are likely to be, providing life-saving services for these individuals and families. Since the pandemic began, Dr. Guest has been a regular contributor to national media on the pandemic and is the host of Emory's weekly COVID-19 Facebook live updates.

Amongst her numerous honors, many of Dr. Guest’s awards were initiated by the students she has taught, advised, and/or mentored, in addition to recognition by her peers for her outstanding contributions to the field. Included are the: 2020 and 2022 Rollins Student Government Association Professor of the Year; 2021 Emory's Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award; Department of Epidemiology’s 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award; 2019 School of Medicine’s Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion Award; 2014 Faculty of Excellence Award, Emory University School of Medicine; 2011 Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Professional School Education, Emory University; and the 2002 Dean's Teaching Award (Golden Apple Award), Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Guest’s investment in and impact on the areas of health disparities and outcomes, HIV/AIDs prevention, infectious disease, preparedness and response, rural health, social determinants of health, social epidemiology, vaccines, and public health leadership cannot be overstated. Nor can her enthusiasm for enhancing the student experience and commitment to creating an inclusive environment. Her generous gifts of time, expertise, and talent to our school as a teacher, researcher, mentor, advisor, spokesperson, alumni board member, and donor have been vital in making RSPH what it is today.

In her opening remarks as Chair of the 2019 National LGBTQ Health Conference held at Emory, Dr. Guest noted that she is “a very proud Emory alum and am beyond thrilled that my university has embraced the work each of you are doing to promote an inclusive world where there is equity in all our communities.”

Dr. Guest has demonstrated a lifetime of career achievement and dedication to the ideals of public health. Through the research she conducts, the students she teaches, and the public health professionals she inspires, her impact on public health reaches far beyond her daily work. Her commitment to the advancement of public health, her passion for teaching and mentorship, her conviction to change live and save lives, and dedication to service have earned her the honor of being recognized as our 2021-2022 Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Award recipient.

Imagine, Innovate and Impact. Not only is this the name of the funding initiative that Lisa M. Carlson MPH launched and manages as Executive Administrator for Research Programs and Operations in the Emory School of Medicine, but it is also an apropos moniker.

Throughout her 27 years of experience and leadership in public health and medicine at the university, state, national and international levels, including 18 years at Emory, Carlson has only ever held positions that no one has held before – each position newly created for her. Her ability to imagine the myriad of connections between effective administration and sound science; her acumen to innovate by developing and launching new programs to facilitate research and education projects across multiple disciplines; and her capacity to consistently impact public health professionals, students, researchers, and the community who benefit from the programs she has helped to establish and grow is exceptional.

A Woodruff Scholar at Emory, Carlson earned her MPH in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from the Rollins School of Public Health, and received her BA in Ethics, Politics and Economics (specialization in medicine) from Yale University. She has spent her career working and teaching at the intersection of health sciences, research administration and practice, serving as the catalyst to some of the largest and most ambitious programs at Emory, and perhaps most influentially, educating, mentoring, and fostering the next generation of public health professionals. In addition to her role in the Emory School of Medicine, Carlson is also an affiliated instructor in the EMPH program at Rollins, where she teaches courses in public health ethics and the Intro to Qualitative Methods course. Students in her class learn by doing and engage in group activities that require them to think, collaborate, and find solutions to problems, all of which help them develop methodological skills they need to succeed and advance in their careers.

Carlson inspires public health students and practitioners not only in her dual functions at Emory, but in her role as Immediate Past President of the American Public Health Association (APHA). A long-time member of both APHA and the Georgia Public Health Association, Carlson has been instrumental in advancing APHA’s agenda, including bringing focus to issues she is passionate about, such fostering cross-sector collaborations, which she sees as a critical component to successfully tackling mental illness and public health disparities, and to elevate mental health as essential to public health.

As a leader in APHA and GPHA, Carlson has modeled the importance of giving back to the profession through service, regularly engaging and encouraging students to get involved, and mentoring those around her in each association. Dean Curran has referred to her as holding “the highest elected office of any Rollins alum,” and in his congratulatory note to Carlson upon her APHA election touted that alumnus like her “are invaluable mentors for current students and young alumni” whose “influence is helping to shape the next generation of public health leaders.”

Carlson has demonstrated a lifetime of career achievement and dedication to the ideals of public health. Through the researchers she enables, the students she teaches, and the public health professionals she inspires, Carlson’s impact on public health reaches far beyond her daily work. Her commitment to the advancement of public health, particularly through the teaching and mentorship of others, along with her passion and conviction that “…the work that we do in public health changes lives and saves lives. I know we are making a difference” could not be truer when describing Lisa M. Carlson and her Distinguished Achievements in public health.

We are delighted to recognize her as our 2020-2021 Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Award recipient.

Considered one of the country’s premier experts in obesity medicine, Fatima Cody Stanford MD, MPH, MPA, MBA has successfully bridged the intersection of medicine, public health, policy, and disparities in her pioneering work caring for patients struggling with obesity as well as her research and advocacy efforts to advance obesity as an epidemic and public policy issue. From her leadership roles with the American Medical Association, National Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, to her numerous prestigious accolades and awards, to her countless hours of volunteer service and commitment to helping others, Fatima’s achievements in the fields of medicine and public are exceptional.

Dr. Stanford received both her BS and MPH degrees from Emory University. She also holds degrees from the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Quantic School of Business and Technology. Following her internal medicine and pediatrics residency at the University of South Carolina, Dr. Stanford completed her Obesity Medicine and Nutrition Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School. She is one of the first fellowship trained obesity medicine physician scientists and educators, specializing in the care of adults, adolescents, and children who are overweight and obese. Dr. Stanford joined the faculty at MGH and Harvard Medical School in 2015 where she continues to provide clinical care, supervise trainees, and conduct research on obesity, health policy, and health disparities to enhance our knowledge and quality of patient care in the United States and throughout the world.

A sought-after authority for her work in obesity, public health, and public policy, Dr. Stanford has been featured in the New York Times, invited to speak throughout the United States for the American College of Physicians, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the National Black Nurses Association. She is also widely published in peer-reviewed journals, is instrumental in advancing obesity as an important public policy issue in the U.S. and internationally, and is credited with playing a pivotal role in the American Medical Association’s 2013 landmark vote to acknowledge obesity as a chronic disease following her keynote address to the House of Delegates and an acclaimed Ted Talk on the topic.

As her nominator and fellow Emory College alumnus Stephanie Denton Bass states, “Fatima is a unique leader in the field of public health and an excellent public servant. With her background in medicine, her passion to help stem the epidemic of obesity in this country, and her commitment to helping others through her work in the public health arena, Fatima [is] an excellent choice for this [RSPH Distinguished Achievement] alumni award.”

We are pleased to recognize Dr. Stanford with our 2019-2020 Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Award.

Dr. Diane Harris, '10 MPH

In 2010, Diane Harris, PhD, MPH, graduated from the executive MPH program at the Rollins School of Public Health with the goal of building her career around creating healthy food environments. She holds a PhD in Animal Science and Nutrition from Cornell University, and she has focused her public health work on the challenge of increasing access and availability of healthy foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, so that individuals can more easily make choices to support a diet that promotes wellness and prevents chronic disease.

Dr. Harris’s career has included positions in both academia and government, and in each of these settings she has developed new research and programmatic initiatives to advance wellness and prevent chronic disease. Dr. Harris currently serves as a Health Scientist and Team Lead at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Emory University in the Nutrition and Health Sciences Program, and will be among the first adjunct faculty in Georgia State University’s Department of Nutrition. Her expertise lies in promoting policy, systems, and environmental strategies that increase access and availability to healthy foods, especially fruits and vegetables, in multiple settings from worksites to schools to early care and education. Her philosophy in leadership is to foster a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and service. She also provides mentorship and career-development advice to fellows, students, and other trainees. 

While earning her degree at Rollins, Dr. Harris served as a laboratory researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where she directed a research program and supervised technical staff in studies investigating the activity of food-derived phytochemicals in pancreatic and colon cancer prevention. She was also co-director of the Gene-Nutrient Interaction Core of the UCLA-NCI Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, and later co-director of the UCLA-NCCAM Animal Model Core for the UCLA Center for Excellence in Pancreatic Diseases. She has over 25 publications from this period that provide insight into the activity of a number of food and herbal medicine-derived compounds on carcinogenic pathways, particularly those inflammatory pathways involved with cancer initiation and progression.

Dr. Harris provides subject matter expertise to the CDC and to the field of public health nutrition, conducting strategic planning toward positive outcomes, and developing programs with inherent technical complexities and rich political context. She prides herself on being an effective catalyst for connecting people and ideas, and enjoys collaborating with individuals and organizations with diverse interests. She is extremely knowledgeable about US health and nutrition policy, and is often called upon as a national expert in a number of areas related to creation of healthy food environments. In particular, as a public health practitioner, she gravitates toward programs and applications of community nutrition that reduce health inequities and provide increased access points for obtaining healthier food options for low-income consumers. 

We are pleased to recognize Dr. Harris with our Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Alumni Award.

Dr. Raymond Kotwicki, '04 MPH

The 2016-2017 Distinguished Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Raymond Kotwicki. A 2004 graduate of the Rollins School of Public Health, Dr. Ray Kotwicki now holds the endowed Charles B. West Chief Medical Officer position at Skyland Trail, a private, nonprofit residential and day treatment organization for adults with mental illnesses in Atlanta. In this role, he oversees all of the clinical, educational, and research activities within the organization. His uniquely holistic, public health approach to caring for patients with psychiatric conditions has transformed patient care at Skyland Trail and redefined the model for effective, recovery-focused mental health treatment nationwide. The Skyland Trail Integrative Model has set the bar for integrated preventative services by incorporating active living and nutrition education into treatment. The approach earned a special presidential commendation from the American Psychi­atric Association in 2015.

In addition to his direct clinical work and innovative program development, Kotwicki champions public health in other educational roles. He has served as an associate professor at Emory’s School of Medicine and at Rollis, led medical student education for Emory’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and remains an adjunct faculty at Emory, as well as at the University of Miami.

Kotwicki is a diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurolo­gy; president of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians’ Association; and the former president of the board of directors for Positive Impact, the Southeast’s premier prevention and mental health program for people impacted by HIV/AIDS. He has given over 200 invited talks, co-edited one book to train over 50,000 police offi­cers on how to recognize people with signs of mental illnesses in the community, and is on the Board of Trustees at the Lovett School.

He is the recipient of numerous distinctions, including Emory’s “Golden Apple” Teaching Award, Leadership Atlanta Class of 2011, Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, Mental Health America and Eli Lilly’s “Heroes in Fight” Clinical Team Award, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

We are pleased to recognize Kotwicki with our Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Alumni Award.

Brigette Ulin, '97 MPH

The 2014-2015 Distinguished Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Jonathan H. Mermin. Dr. Jonathan H. Mermin is Director of National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prior to earning his MPH in Epidemiology in 1998, he received his MD from Stanford University and completed a residency in Primary Care Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He joined the CDC in 1995 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer.

Dr. Mermin spent a decade working with the CDC in Africa before he returned to the Atlanta headquarters in 2009. Dr. Mermin’s work in Africa—first in Kenya and then in Uganda—started at the cusp of the HIV epidemic, just prior to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Dr. Mermin conceptualized the idea and led international efforts to develop a standard, evidence-based, basic care package for people with HIV in Africa. In 2003, he implemented the first U.S. Government-funded program that provided antiretroviral therapy to people with HIV outside the United States. And in both Kenya and Uganda, he helped develop a 2-year fellowship program, modeled after the Epidemic Intelligence Service at CDC that trained people in HIV prevention and care at host institutions and developed a cadre of public health leaders.

As the Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Dr. Mermin worked to refocus CDC’s HIV prevention activities toward “high impact prevention”, which included focusing the lion’s share of resources on four proven effective HIV prevention strategies. This new approach shifted CDC grants to health departments in the 12 cities that cover 44% of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.

In 2013, Dr. Mermin took on the role of Director of NCHHSTP and has brought a similar outcome-oriented approach to the work of Center; focusing on cost-effectiveness and improved impact. This includes improved access to new highly effective, but expensive viral hepatitis treatments; ensuring effective STD treatment and prevention in the time of healthcare transformation; and invigorating a new approach to latent TB infection. In addition, Dr. Mermin continues to respond to urgent public health issues—he was the only Center Director at CDC to deploy for a month to West Africa for the Ebola epidemic, he is currently overseeing the emergency operations response to a large outbreak of HIV and HCV in rural Indiana, and he is involved in a multi-state drug resistant TB outbreak.

It is for his significant contributions to HIV and other disease prevention that we are recognizing Dr. Jonathan H. Mermin with our Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Award.

Dr. Oladele graduated from the Rollins School of Public Health in 1993 with an MPH in Epidemiology. He received his Bachelor's degree from Morehouse College and his medical degree in Urology from the Morehouse School of Medicine, then completed his internship, residency and fellowship at Emory. Today, Dr. Oladele serves as the Medical Director for the DeKalb County Board of Health's Tuberculosis Program and is the CEO and President of Premiere International Health Care Inc. Through his work with Premiere International Health Care Inc., Dr. Oladele oversees a variety of HIV and community health projects in West, East, and Central Africa.

Dr. Oladele has legacy of service that extends far beyond most. He is the creative force behind DeKalb County's "Public Health Student Adopt a Refugee Family" Program and the Global Initiative for the Advancement of Nutritional Therapy (GIANT) in Africa -- an initiative he co-founded to help eliminate hunger and malnutrition through improved nutrition, better food access, and clean water across the continent. He is an active advisor to several national and international non-profit organizations, and serves on the Board of Directors for MedShare International where he facilitated the establishment of a $1 million medical assistance program through the Federal Ministry of Health for Nigeria. He is also a sponsor and supporter of the Women of Hope Project which provides free medical consultation and drugs for those infected with HIV/AIDS.

His contributions to both his local and international communities, including his home country of Nigeria, have been recognized on numerous occasions. Perhaps the most notable accolades were the Nigerian Consulates Appreciation Award and the Alliance of Nigerian Organizations in Georgia Image Award he received in 2009.

A respected researcher, physician and published author, Dr. Oladele has spent more than 15 years as public health advocate for social justice through economic and community development, environmental justice, human rights, and social change. It is for all these reasons we have chosen to recognize Dr. Alawode Oladele with our Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Achievement Award.

Dr. Westfall graduated from the Rollins School of Public Health in 2009 and currently serves as the District Public Health Director for District 2 at the State of Georgia's Department of Public Health. In this role he is responsible for promoting and improving public health in 13-county area in north Georgia. Some of his notable accomplishments to date in his role as District Health Director include increasing primary care services for HIV patients in the district's Ryan White Clinic, improving access to health care, and improving employee development for district staff.

Dr. Westfall is described by his nominator as a "champion for public health", dedicating himself to improving overall public health in the community. He holds numerous board leadership positions for organizations that help the uninsured, medically underserved areas, children who are victims of sexual or severe physical abuse, and emergency preparedness. He helped start the Good News Clinics (GNC), which provides medical and dental care at no cost to low income, uninsured residents of Hall County. Dr. Westfall currently serves as volunteer physician and advisory board member for GNC, which in 2011 provided approximately $22 million in services to uninsured residents of Hall County. In addition, he remains very engaged with the Career MPH program at Rollins through teaching and serving on thesis committees.

For more than 50 years Dr. Stanley Foster has been a leader in public health. He began his career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence (EIS) Officer. For two years he examined thousands of school children in Arizona for trachoma, and investigated other health emergencies, such as plague, rabies, measles, shigella, kerato conjuntivitis, and rotavirus on behalf of the Indian Health Service. In 1966, Dr. Foster was invited to join the CDC’s new Smallpox Eradication Program where he spent 8 years in Nigeria, Bangladesh and Somalia (the last smallpox epidemic country in the world) working with national health workers to eradicate smallpox. His efforts helped make history in 1980 by officially eradicating smallpox from the world.

For the next 14 years, Dr. Foster worked to improve the health and survival of children in more than a dozen African countries with the International Health Program Office at the CDC. Through his work with the Combating Childhood Communicable Disease Project (CCCD), he focused on prevention, case management of priority illnesses including malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea, and strengthening preventive and curative systems.

When most would have chosen to retire from a successful career with the CDC, Dr. Foster decided he would begin his second career – sharing his knowledge and experiences with future public health leaders. He began teaching global health at the Rollins School of Public Health in 1994. For nearly 20 years, he has taught and mentored thousands of public health students and served as a source of inspiration for thousands of community health workers around the world.

Throughout his career Dr. Foster has worked tirelessly to improve the health and well-being of millions of people. Significantly shaping the landscape of public health, his impact will continue to be felt for years to come.

Dr. Ali S. Khan is a 2000 graduate of the Rollins School of Public Health, Assistant Surgeon General and the Director of the CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. Prior to earning his MPH in biostatistics, he received his MD from Downstate Medical Center and completed a joint residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Michigan before joining CDC in 1991 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer.

As one of the main architects of CDC's public health bioterrorism preparedness program, Dr. Khan was instrumental in upgrading local, state, and national public health systems to detect and rapidly respond to bioterrorism. He also created the Critical Agent list, which has remained the basis for all biological terrorism preparedness. These preparedness efforts were used during the first anthrax attack in 2001, during which Dr. Khan directed the CDC operational response in Washington, DC.

Over the past decade, Dr. Khan's contribution to public health has ranged from responding to and leading numerous high profile domestic and international public health emergencies (including Ebola hemorrhagic fever, avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the Asian tsunami, and the initial public health response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans) to designing CDC's joint global field epidemiology and laboratory training program, and engaging in both guinea worm and polio eradication. He was also an integral part of the design and implementation of the President's Malaria Initiative.

In addition to authoring over 150 peer-reviewed publications and consulting for NASA, Ministries of Health, and the World Health Organization, Dr. Khan also remains an active member of the RSPH community. He teaches as an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology, serves as a student mentor, participates in the Alumni Campaign Committee, and has served as RSPH Alumni Board President.

Dr. Robert C. Bailey is a 1997 alumnus of the Rollins School of Public Health. Prior to earning his MPH in epidemiology, he received his PhD in biological anthropology from Harvard University.

Dr. Bailey has devoted much of his public health career to the groundbreaking research that has established the importance of male circumcision in the prevention of HIV and translating that research into widespread public health action; action which stands to avert over 3 million new HIV infections over the next 20 years, according to the World Health Organization.

Working with national and international partners including the Ministries of Health, WHO, UNAIDS, PEPFAR, USAID, and the CDC, Dr. Bailey has played an integral role in establishing safe, affordable circumcision and other prevention strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 100,000 male circumcisions have been achieved so far with countless additional sexually transmitted infections averted, and thousands of men and their female partners counseled and tested for HIV.

Dr. Bailey is also committed to building the capacity of Kenyans to engage in research and to improve public health practice. Through grants and various support mechanisms, he supports 14 Kenyans toward earning their MPH. In addition, he is the founder a charitable organization called Health and Empowerment for African Lives (HEAL), which supports people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya with counseling, medical care, and income-generating opportunities for victims of the HIV epidemic.

Dr. Bailey is also an Epidemiology Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he mentors several junior faculty and six PhD students.

Daniel Blumenthal received the Distinguished Achievement Award for preparing students to serve on the front lines of public health as chair of community health and preventive medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Under his guidance, Morehouse established one of the nation's first federally funded Area Health Education Centers, a pipeline program for health professionals working in underserved communities. He also created an education program that includes a rural clerkship and a community health course that is taught in the community. His department offers an "Honors in Community Service" track, the only one of its kind at a U.S. medical school.

Prior to Morehouse, Blumenthal served with the CDC, WHO, Fulton County, and Grady Memorial Hospital. When he joined the school in 1984, his department had no more than five faculty members and no research program. Today, it has nearly 40 faculty members and a cumulative total of $50 million in research funding.

"He is a quiet giant who stands tall in the corridor," said John Maupin, Morehouse School of Medicine president, of Blumenthal. "He is a champion for public health."

Dr. Taroub Harb Faramand, 95MPH, was honored with the Distinguished Achievement Award for her efforts to empower women in communities and guide the development of institutions to improve health nationally and globally. As senior vice president for global health programs with Project HOPE, Faramand oversees a network of core and field staff responsible for more than 80 programs in 36 countries. Trained as a physician in Russia, she has 25 years of clinical and management experience in reproductive health, maternal and child health, and HIV/AIDS.

"She is a visionary leader and strategic thinker who puts ideas into action," says Dixie Snider, 84MPH, last year's Distinguished Achievement Award recipient. While Faramand is known for her international leadership, she never lost sight of the value of working with communities. From developing a microcredit program for women in rural Egypt to designing literacy booklets in local languages, Faramand has a gift for "lifting up those most in need," says Snider.

2006 - Dr. Dixie E. Snider, Jr., MD, MPH

2005 - Dr. Suzanne M. Smith, '91 MPH, MPA

2004 - Dr. Hani Atrash '85 MPH

2003 - Dr. E. Anne Peterson '94 MPH

2002 - Dr. Oscar E. Tarragó '89 MPH

2001 - Patrick J. McConnon, '89 MPH

2000 - Allan B. Goldman, '76 MPH

1999 - Virginia Shankle Bales, '77 MPH

1998 - Dr. Erica Frank '84 MPH

1997 - Dr. Stephen L. Cochi '93 MPH

1995 - Marie F. McLeod '90 MPH