Community Partners Awards 2009

A record number of people—around 200—gathered to help us formally thank our community partners for the work they do at our 6th annual Community Partners event.

We presented 17 Community Partner Star awards to individuals nominated and selected by SPH faculty. The group includes mentors, preceptors, guest lecturers, and research partners.

In the organization category, Mercy Health Systems received an award. Led by CEO Javon Bea, an SPH alum of the Master of Healthcare Administration program, Mercy takes a holistic view of health care and has made “healing in the broadest sense” a fundamental tenet of its mission. Under Javon’s leadership, Mercy has mentored and hired several SPH students and graduates.

Team Diarrhea

An award in the state agency category went to the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) Team Diarrhea. The foodborne-disease investigators of “Team D” represent current SPH students and MDH epidemiologists. Over the past 10 years, 90 SPH students have been part of Team D, and close to half of them have used their experience to formulate their master’s project. SPH alum and Team D epidemiologist Carlota Medus accepted the award on behalf of Team D. (View avideo on Team D below.)

Despite the varying responsibilities of our many community partners, each plays a vital role in school’s mission. We couldn’t educate the next generation of public health leaders without them.