Past Child Health Advocate Award Recipients

2023

Art and Media:
Kristina Marusic, MFA – Award winning journalist, Environmental Health News, and Author of New War on Cancer

Science Award:
Dr. Brenda Eskenazi, MA, PhD-Professor Emeritus, UC Berkeley School of Public Health & Director, Center for Environmental Research and Community Health (CERCH)

Policy Award:
Nathaniel Smith-Founder and Chief Equity Officer, Partnership for Southern Equity

Community Award:
Donele Wilkins-Chief Executive Officer, Green Door Initiative

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon (NOW) Youth Leadership Award:
Manu Onteeru-Student, Dartmouth College & Founder, Project Mislead

2022

Art and Media:
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. – Hip Hop Caucus

Science Award:
Dr. Gredia Huerta-Montanez-Puerto Rico Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Puerto Rico Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance of Blood Lead Level in Children of the Puerto Rico Department of Health, Region 2 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit

Policy Award:
Mark Mitchell, M.D., MPH, FACPM-George Mason University

Business Award:
Eric Friedenwald-Fishman– Metropolitan Group

Community Award:
Jade Begay-NDN Collective

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon (NOW) Youth Leadership Award:
Natasha Matta-Environmental Justice Coalition
Rhea Goswami-Environmental Justice Coalition

2021

Science Honoree:
José F. Cordero, MD, MPH-  University of Georgia’s College of Public Health

Community Honoree:
Catherine Coleman Flowers, MA– Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice

Policy Honoree:
Kristin Schafer, MA– Pesticide Action Network

Media Honoree:
Sharon Lerner, MPH- IThe Intercept

Child Health Advocate Honoree:
Martha Berger, MPA- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honoree:
Ananya Sridhar- Neptune Project

2020

Science Honorees:
Dr. Beverly L. Wright, PhD, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Dr. Mona Sarfaty, MD, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Community Honoree:
Ms. LaTricea Adams, MAT, EdS, Black Millennials for Flint

Policy Honoree:
Ms. Janice Nolen, MA, American Lung Association

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honorees:
Ms. Sophia Kianni, Climate Cardinals
Ms. Karina Samuel, U.S. Youth Climate Strike, Bye Bye Plastic Bags Florida

2019

Science Honoree:
Dr. Cynthia F. Bearer, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Community Honoree:
Ms. Parisa Norouzi, Empower DC

Child Health Advocate Honoree:
Dr. Ruth A. Etzel, M.D., Ph.D., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Business Honoree:
Mr. Anas “Andy” Shallal, Founder and CEO of Busboys and Poets

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honoree:
Ms. Mabette Colón Pérez, Comunidad Guayamesa Unidos Por Tu Salud

2018

Science Honoree:
Dr. Luz Claudio, Environmental Medicine & Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Community Honoree:
Dr. Susan Hedges, National Association for the Education of Young Children

Child Health Advocate Honoree:
Mustafa Santiago Ali,JD (honoris causa), Climate, Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization at Hip Hop Caucus

Media Honorees:
Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman and Dylan Purcell, Reporters on the “Toxic City” series at the Philadelphia Inquirer

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honoree:
Ms. Amariyanna Copeny aka Little Miss Flint, Student and activist

2017

Science Honoree:
Dr. Michael L. Weitzman, Department of Pediatrics and Environmental Medicine at New York University School of Medicine and School of Global Public Health at New York University

Community Honoree:
Dr. Robert Bullard, Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University

Community Honoree:
Ms. Annabelle M. Allison, Tribal Support Unit in the Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Carol Stroebel Health Policy Honoree:
Dr. Jerome Paulson, Principal of EnviroHealthDoctor, LLC

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honoree:
Ms. Sophie Bernstein, Grow Healthy

2016

Science Honoree:
Dr. David Bellinger, Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Community Honoree:
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Pediatric Residency Program and Public Health Initiative
Hurley Children’s Hospital and Michigan State University

Child Health Advocate Honoree:
Dr. Gail Christopher, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Carol Stroebel Health Policy Honoree:
Dr. John M. Balbus, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and U.S. Global Change Research Program

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honoree:
Ms. Nidhi Bhaskar, Project New Boundaries for Youth (ProjectNBYOUTH) and Project Global Perspective Club at the Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School

2015

Science Honoree:
Dr. Walter Rogan, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Epidemiology Branch (retired)

Policy Honoree:
Carol Stroebel, Long-time advocate for policies protecting public interest/public health, most recently CEHN Director of Training & Policy

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Honoree:
Annie Willis, Leader with Global Kids, Inc.

2014

Science Honoree:
Dr. Tracey Woodruff, Director of the University of California at San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment; Professor in UCSF School of Medicine and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies

Policy Honoree:
Dr. Richard J. Jackson, Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

Community Honorees:
Dr. Barbara Minzenberg, Deputy Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL)
Ms. Maureen Murphy, Director of the Pennsylvania Key

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Award Honorees:
Nathan McEmrys, student at Roosevelt High School, Portland Oregon
Roxana Reisch, student at the World of Inquiry School, Rochester, New York

2013

Science Honoree:
Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program

Policy Honoree:
Honorable Michael A. Nutter, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Award Honoree:
Maren Johnson, Student Ambassador, Global Soap Project

2012

Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Arts/Media Honorees:
Meg Kissinger, Investigative Reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Susanne Rust, Investigative Reporter, California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting

Nsedu Obot Witherspoon Youth Leadership Award Honorees:
Christina Bear & Eric Bear, Students & Activists

2011

Community Honoree:
Queen Zakia Rafiqa Shabazz, Executive Director, United Parents Against Lead

Policy Honoree:
Erik D. Olson, Deputy Director, Pew Health Group, The Pew Charitable Trusts

Arts/Media Honoree:
Sandra Steingraber, Ecologist; Author; Scholar in Residence, Ithica College

Science Honoree:
Herbert Needleman, Pediatrician, Child Psychiatrist, Researcher & Professor, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

2010

Community Honoree:
Marva King, EJ Coordinator, EPA Office of Air and Radiation; CARE Program Co-Chair, EPA

Policy Honoree:
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg

Arts/Media Honoree:
Sanjay Gupta, Neurosurgeon; Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN

Science Honoree:
Martyn Smith, Professor, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

2009

Community Honoree:
Peggy Shepard, Executive Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Policy Honoree:
James W. Hubbard, Maryland House of Delegates
Bob Axelrad, Office of Air and Radiation, EPA

Science Honoree:
Michael Shannon, Pediatrician, Researcher & Professor, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School

2008

Community Honoree:
Elizabeth Blackburn, Coordinator, Community Affairs and Outreach, Child and Aging Health Protection Division, Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education, EPA

Policy Honoree:
Bettina Poirier, Staff Director and Chief Counsel, US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

Science Honoree:
William Suk, Director, Superfund Research Program; and Center for Risk & Integrated Sciences (CRIS), NIEH
Frederica P. Perera, Professor, Mailman School of Public Health; and Director, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, Columbia University
Greg Farmer

Child Health Advocate Honoree:
Wendy Gordan, Founder, Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet; and Editorial Director, Natural Resources Defense Council

2007

Policy Honoree:
John Edward Porter, former US Representative (Illinois)

Science Honoree:
Lynn R. Goldman, Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Peter Robertson

Science Honoree:

Michael Shannon, Pediatrician, Researcher & Professor, Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School

2006

Carol Browner,  Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency