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
2006
Carol Browner, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency