On Tuesday, March 11th during the APTR annual meeting, Teaching Prevention 2024: Advancing Population Health Across Disciplines, APTR presented its 2024 awards.  APTR nationally recognizes outstanding individuals and academic programs for achievement in the field of prevention and public health education. The APTR Awards Program honors those who have advanced prevention and public health teaching, research, and service.

APTR DUNCAN CLARK AWARD

This award was named after APTR Past President, Duncan Clark, an American public health expert and preventive medicine specialist. Established in 1974, it honors individuals or organizations with a distinguished record of achievement in the areas of teaching, research and/or advocacy that promoted preventive medicine.

We are thrilled to give this award to Dr. Scott Frank from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who is Associate Professor Emeritus of the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the School of Medicine and Director Emeritus of the Master of Public Health Program.  Scott Frank, MD, MS, was a public health and family medicine educator, researcher, and practitioner. He served as Director of Health for the City of Shaker Heights and was the principal investigator of the Health Data Matters online resource. Dr. Frank maintained a clinical family practice and was involved in research and teaching in the domains of social justice, public health services and systems, public health information technology, adolescent health, tobacco control, substance abuse prevention, public health and medicine, assessment of stress, and the role of spirituality and religion in the medical setting. Dr. Frank has a long history of service to APTR. He has served on numerous planning committees of the APTR conference and as an APTR representative on the American Journal of Preventive Medicine Board of Governors, and two terms on the APTR Board of Directors from 2016-2022.

F. MARIAN BISHOP EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

The F. Marian Bishop Educator of the Year Award is presented to faculty who have contributed to the instruction of students or residents in the field of public health and prevention.

This award was presented to Dr. Rosemary (Rosie) Frasso, a health equity researcher and public health educator. Recognized as an expert in mixed methods study design. She is dedicated to mentoring junior faculty and training the next generation of public health professionals through teaching and mentorship. Dr. Frasso provides consultation and oversight on qualitative projects for clinicians, researchers, and students as well as for partners from local, national and international organizations, including the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, WillsEye Hospital, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and Philadelphia, LV Prasad Eye Institute in India, Ulster University, Northern Ireland, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy.

Her expertise in qualitative methods focuses on traditional and alternative data sources and data collection approaches that are crucial to studies designed to inform, assess, and promote health equity interventions. Dr. Frasso has trained hundreds of researchers to conduct rigorous qualitative and mixed methods research studies through a popular mini-course on qualitative research that draws learners from around the US. Dr. Frasso embraces traditional and creative data collection approaches, including, but not limited to, arts informed research, tag-a-long interviews, photo-elicitation interviews, photo-voice, free-listing and consensus-deriving group approaches. Additionally, she has worked on several cross-disciplinary projects with educators, artists and economists who are committed to using qualitative methods to support and enhance community collaborations and to amplify the voices of vulnerable populations. 

OUTSTANDING PROGRAM AWARD

This award honors an innovative program, department, or academic institution for advancing education in prevention and public health. Individuals responsible for the establishment, success, growth, or management of the academic program, which furthers students' interest in the field, are honored.

This award is presented to the Population Health Scholar Track at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Drs. Monica Ajinkya, and Richard Waldhorn are the track directors and are here with us today along with Yumi Jarris, the founding Director and the chief architect and leader for many years. The Population Health Scholar Track is a comprehensive, longitudinal curriculum in population health. It includes seminar discussions, a rigorous outcomes-based scholarly project, and a health policy and public health elective. The goal of the track is to provide students with foundational population health knowledge and research skills which will enable them to approach clinical care with a broader understanding of the determinants of health. The Population Health Scholar Track trains students to become leaders who will promote health equity for their patients and communities. Students who complete all of the components receive special distinction as a Population Health Scholar upon graduation.

A core component of the training is the practical experience students gain when they complete a mentored 7-week summer research project addressing health equity. The research projects most commonly address the structural or social determinants of health in the District of Columbia at various organizations. In their fourth year, students enroll in a month-long health policy and public health elective with residents and fellows from throughout the MedStar Health system. The elective includes didactic lectures by Georgetown faculty from the medical school, Law Center, School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the McCourt Public Policy school as well as experts in public health and public policy from other academic centers and think tanks.  Students and residents also participate in site visits to state, local and national public health and health policy agencies and the Congress  where they have the opportunity to meet with current and former national public health leaders.  A population health community engagement project, advocacy work,  and an introduction to population health data science skills are also part of this elective.

Each year the scholars work in conjunction with Georgetown nursing students interested in public health at an assigned DC elementary school to make this an interdisciplinary effort.

This award honors an innovative program, department, or academic institution for advancing education in prevention and public health. Individuals responsible for the establishment, success, growth, or management of the academic program, which furthers students' interest in the field, are honored.

This award was presented to the Population Health Scholar Track at Georgetown University School of Medicine. The Population Health Scholar Track is a comprehensive, longitudinal curriculum in population health. It includes seminar discussions, a rigorous outcomes-based scholarly project, and a health policy and public health elective. The goal of the track is to provide students with foundational population health knowledge and research skills which will enable them to approach clinical care with a broader understanding of the determinants of health. The Population Health Scholar Track trains students to become leaders who will promote health equity for their patients and communities. Students who complete all of the components receive special distinction as a Population Health Scholar upon graduation. A core component of the training is the practical experience students gain when they complete a mentored 7-week summer research project addressing health equity. The research projects most commonly address the structural or social determinants of health in the District of Columbia at various organizations. 

In their fourth year, students enroll in a month-long health policy and public health elective with residents and fellows from throughout the MedStar Health system. The elective includes didactic lectures by Georgetown faculty from the medical school, Law Center, School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the McCourt Public Policy school as well as experts in public health and public policy from other academic centers and think tanks.  Students and residents also participate in site visits to state, local and national public health and health policy agencies and the Congress  where they have the opportunity to meet with current and former national public health leaders.  A population health community engagement project, advocacy work,  and an introduction to population health data science skills are also part of this elective.