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Brazilian professor wins the 2001 Abraham Horwitz Award for Inter-American Public Health
» Award Overview The Pan American Health and Education Foundation, a US-based non-profit partner of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) awarded Dr. Ruy Laurenti the Abraham Horwitz Award for his outstanding contribution to improve the health in the Americas.
"During his 30 year professional career Dr. Laurenti has played an important role in the evolutionary process of disease classification both in Brazil and in the Region. He has been a key player in the implementation of the Brazilian Information System on Mortality and as an advisor to the National Center of Epidemiology. As a world leader in international classification of diseases, he has advised many public entities in this area and has pioneered new training alternatives for epidemiologists and researchers. Careful classification of disease is critical to ensuring the systematic collection of data on health problems, both in mortality and in morbidity. By standardizing criteria and the processing and tabulation of data, this work guarantees comparability of information across the world and through time", noted Dr. Figueroa.
Among the important national and international health authorities who attended the ceremony were Dr. George A.O. Alleyne, Director of PAHO, Dr. Sara Ordoñez, Minister of Health of Colombia, Dr. Carlos Dotres Martinez, Minister of Health of Cuba, Dr. William Steiger, US Department of Health and Human Services, Mr. Virgnaud Eliseo, Counselor of the Embassy of Brazil, and Ms. Jess Gersky, Executive Director of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. Professor Ruy Laurenti was born in Rio Claro, São Paulo. He graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of São Paulo in 1957 and in 1969 received his Doctorate Degree in Medical Sciences. He is married to Dr. Rose Laurenti and has 2 children, Ruy and Renato, and an 8-month-old granddaughter. The Abraham Horwitz Award is intended to stimulate excellence and leadership in health among persons who work in the Americas and who produce ideas and work primarily of regional significance. Candidates must have an outstanding lifetime career in medicine or public health demonstrating impact on the lives and health of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Award is a tribute to another outstanding regional leader, Dr. Abraham Horwitz, a Chilean doctor who served as the director of PAHO for four terms and the President of our Foundation for 25 years. The Horwitz award consists of a certificate and a cash prize of US$5000. The winner is selected by a distinguished jury, consisting of representatives of PAHO and the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. This year the winner was selected from 18 outstanding candidates nominated by the Ministers of Health of all the countries of Americas.
Leonard Duhl of the United States wins the 2002 Abraham Horwitz Award for International HealthLeadership
» Award Overview The Pan American Health and Education Foundation, a US-based non-profit partner of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) awarded Dr. Leonard Duhl the Abraham Horwitz Award for his outstanding contribution to improve the health in the Americas.
"Dr. Duhl has changed radically our thinking about urban health. As early as 1952, he wrote about the concept of sick cities. His 1964 publication "The Urban Condition" provided the conceptual and strategic frame for the global movement that today is known as Healthy Cities. Considered to be the intellectual father of this healthy city concept, he with others in the field health promotion, prepared the background papers for the successful launching of the WHO Healthy Cities Project in Europe. He also did pioneering work associating urban design with mental health", noted Mr. McHugh.
During his speech of acceptance, Dr. Duhl said: "Community can be defined in many ways. However, the focus upon individuals' and institutions' ability to deal with life problems to me is one of our most important issues. The current language, is "the building of personal and social capital". Healthy Cities is not a program or project in the conventional sense. Rather, it is a set of individualized processes for communities and peoples' to learn how to improve their quality of life". Among the important national and international health authorities who attended the ceremony were Dr. George Alleyne, Director of PAHO; Dr. Patricio Jarimska, Minister of Health of Ecuador and President of the Conference; Dr. David Brandling-Bennett, PAHO Deputy Director, Ms. Mary Lou Valdez, Department of Health and Human Services; and Ms. Jess Gersky, Executive Director of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. Dr. Leonard Duhl was born in New York. He graduated from the Columbia University in 1945 and received a doctoral degree from the Albany Medical College in 1948. He is married to Mrs. Lisa Duhl, and they have 5 children, Susan, Pamela, Aurora, Nina and David, and 7 grandchildren. The Abraham Horwitz Award is intended to stimulate excellence and leadership in health among persons who work in the Americas and who produce ideas and work primarily of regional significance. Candidates must have an outstanding lifetime career in medicine or public health demonstrating impact on the lives and health of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Award is a tribute to another outstanding regional leader, Dr. Abraham Horwitz, a Chilean doctor who served as the director of PAHO for four terms and the President of our Foundation for 25 years. The Horwitz award consists of a certificate and a cash prize of US$5000. The winner is selected by a distinguished jury, consisting of representatives of PAHO and the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. This year the winner was selected from 36 outstanding candidates nominated by the Ministers of Health of all the countries of Americas.
Outstanding and Accomplished Leader in Inter-American Health Receives Prestigious Award
» Award Overview WASHINGTON, DC, September 27, 2004 - Before an international forum of high-level government health officials, ambassadors and other VIPs, a world-renowned pediatrician and professor, Dr. Eduardo Salazar-Lindo, received the prestigious Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health for his public health leadership in and his significant contributions to the control and reduction of enteric diseases, such as cholera, in his native country of Peru, Latin America, and worldwide over a 25-year career.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, Ms. Patricia Schroeder presented a certificate of honor and cash prize to Dr. Salazar-Lindo during the 45th Annual Directing Council meeting of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). She spoke of Dr. Salazar-Lindo's leadership, his expertise in intestinal diseases, and his management skills as key to "saving many thousands of lives during the 1991 cholera outbreak in Peru, a remarkable distinction among many during his long and impressive career in public health." Also she stated that he introduced the life-saving treatment for diarrhea, oral rehydration therapy, to his country. She further noted that he guided his country's efforts in setting up its national oral rehydration program, and that the program ultimately reduced infant deaths by 57%. Her concluding remarks were, "You...join a distinguished list of individuals whose outstanding lifetime careers in medicine or public health demonstrate substantial impact on the lives and health of the peoples of the Region of the Americas." At a luncheon held earlier in the day, the Executive Director of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, Ms. Jess Gersky, thanked and congratulated Dr. Salazar-Lindo for his initiative and leadership to bring improved health for all in the Americas. She noted that "Dr. Salazar-Lindo has all the qualities of a leader in public health. He leads by example. His work has broad implications on the health of future generations, and he is passionate about preventing disease and suffering. Dr. Salazar-Lindo is an inspiration to up-and-coming public health leaders. We are proud to have him as a member of our inter-American health family." The Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health was established to honor Dr. Horwitz, who served as the director of PAHO and as president of the Foundation for 40 some years. Since 1975, it has recognized nearly 30 leaders whose areas of expertise ranged from child safety, to urban health, to tropical diseases, and the like. These leaders' commitment to inter-American public health stimulates excellence among public health professionals regionwide. This award is one of five awards of the Awards for Excellence in Inter-American Public Health Program , a partnership between the Foundation and PAHO. The Pan American Health and Education Foundation is an independent philanthropic organization working to combat disease, lengthen life, improve health care services, foster health research, and enhance the capacities of health care workers in the Americas through grant-making and direct program implementation. The Foundation works to promote philanthropy as a core social value, and shares the Pan American Health Organization's vision of Health for All. For information about the call for nomination for the 2005 Abraham Horwitz for Leadership in Inter-American Health and the Foundation's Awards for Excellence in Inter-American Public Health, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Download Dr. Eduardo Salazar-Lindo's speech in Spanish (PDF)
Martin Eichelberger of the United States wins the 2003 Abraham Horwitz Award for International Health Leadership
» Award Overview The Pan American Health and Education Foundation, a US-based non-profit partner of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) awarded Dr. Martin R. Eichelberger the Abraham Horwitz Award for his outstanding contribution to improve the health in the Americas. The presentation of the award was made by the Foundation's Treasurer, Mr. Matthew McHugh, in an official ceremony during the 44th Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization, held in Washington DC on 22 September.
The ceremony was attended by Ministers of Health from many of the countries of the Americas, including Dr. Pedro García of Chile, current President of PAHO's Directing Council. Also in attendance was former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, who nominated Dr. Eichelberger for the award. Other notable guests included PAHO's Director and Deputy Director, Dr. Mirta Roses and Dr. Joxel Garcia, respectively, Ms. Mary Lou Valdez of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Ms. Jess Gersky, Executive Director of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. Dr. Eichelberger, a Brazilian born US citizen, is Director of Emergency Trauma and Burn Services and Attending Pediatric Surgeon at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the George Washington University Medical Center, as well as President and Founder of SAFE KIDS Worldwide. Early in his professional life, Dr. Eichelberger realized that every time a child was injured, society had failed to protect it. Treating the injured child was not the solution to the root problem. Better medical care needed to be accompanied by social efforts promoting safe attitudes and maintaining safe environments. In 1988, Dr. Eichelberger founded the National SAFE KIDS Campaign in the US. Drawing on his Brazilian roots, in 2001 Dr. Eichelberger helped to institutionalize injury prevention in Brazil through the creation of SAFE KIDS Brazil, a program that operates with three local grassroots coalitions reaching thousands of families in Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Recife. His commitment to keeping children in Brazil safe is indeed the driving force behind the injury prevention movement that is now underway in Mexico, Chile and Argentina, and will eventually benefit all countries in the Region of the Americas. During his acceptance speech, Dr. Eichelberger said: "We still face many challenges in trying to curb the effect of unintentional injury on children's lives. It is difficult to deliver cutting-edge pediatric medical care and rehabilitation in every neighborhood. But we can work to make sure every community has a coalition of people who care enough to deliver information, safety devices and the promise of preventing unintentional injuries to children. We must ensure that the good medicine of prevention is available to all. As Dr. Abraham Horwitz recognized many years ago, "Health is a social product that is everyone's responsibility." All of these locally based efforts can and do add up to make a difference in children's lives. Here is another example of the effect people who care about injury prevention can have—since the National SAFE KIDS Campaign was established, the childhood injury death rate in the United States has plummeted nearly 40 percent. This translates into 26,000 young lives saved over the past fifteen years. These are children who will potentially develop into leaders of a nation", noted Dr. Eichelberger. Dr. Martin Eichelberger was born in Bahia, Brazil. He graduated from Princeton University in 1967 and received a medical degree from the Hahnemann University in 1971. He is married to Mrs. Nancy Eichelberger and has 2 children, Todd and Lindsay. The Abraham Horwitz Award is intended to stimulate excellence and leadership in health among persons who work in the Americas and who produce ideas and work primarily of regional significance. Candidates must have an outstanding lifetime career in medicine or public health demonstrating impact on the lives and health of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Award is a tribute to another outstanding regional leader, Dr. Abraham Horwitz, a Chilean doctor who served as the director of PAHO for four terms and the President of our Foundation for 25 years. The Horwitz award consists of a certificate and a cash prize of US$5000. The winner is selected by a distinguished jury, consisting of representatives of PAHO and the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. This year the winner was selected from 46 outstanding candidates nominated by the Ministers of Health of all the countries of Americas.
World-Renowned Nutrition Expert Awarded Prestigious Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health
» Award Overview In Washington, DC, on September 16, 2005, before an international forum of high-level government health officials, ambassadors and other VIPs, a world-renowned international nutritionist, pediatrician, and professor, Dr. Ricardo Uauy, received the prestigious Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health for his significant commitment to international nutrition in his native country of Chile and for his commitment to Latin America and beyond during a career spanning more than three decades. During the meeting, attendees spoke of his leadership and international experience, especially ininfant and child nutrition. Due to his excellence in research, he was also hailed "as one of the most eminent and distinguished scientists in international nutrition in the world." Further, they said,"his energy and productivity have allowed him to mentor the next generation of researchers and to be an outstanding role model for scientists throughout the Region of the Americas and around the world." Among his many distinctions, he was particularly acknowledged for his leadership in addressing the nutrition transition in Latin America.
Earlier in the day at a luncheon in recognition of his international standing, the Executive Director of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation, Ms. Jess Gersky, thanked and congratulated Dr. Uauy for his leadership in international nutrition and research thereby improving health for all in the Americas. She noted that "Dr. Uauy selflessly serves the public's health and demonstrates leadership and dedication to the highest standards of excellence in nutrition and research. He inspires up-and-coming public health leaders. We are proud to have him as a member of our inter-American health family." The Abraham Horwitz Award for Leadership in Inter-American Health was established to honor Dr. Horwitz, who served as the director of PAHO and as president of the Foundation for 25 years. Since 1975, it has recognized nearly 30 leaders whose areas of expertise ranged from child safety, to urban health, to tropical diseases, and the like. These leaders' commitment to inter-American public health stimulates excellence among public health professionals regionwide. This award is one of five awards of the Awards for Excellence in Inter-American Public Health Program, a partnership between the Foundation and PAHO. The Pan American Health and Education Foundation is an independent philanthropic organization working to combat disease, lengthen life, improve health care services, foster health research, and enhance the capacities of health care workers in the Americas through grant-making and direct program implementation. The Foundation works to promote philanthropy as a core social value, and shares the Pan American Health Organization's vision of Health for All. More Articles...
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Dr. Laurenti, a Brazilian professor of the School of Public Health of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, received the prestigious Award from Dr. Enrique Figueroa, Trustee of the Foundation, in an official ceremony during the 43rd Directing Council Meeting of the Pan American Health Organization, held in Washington DC on 27 September.
"I am a man of University, I have dedicated my time to teaching and research. As a teacher, I feel satisfied to have had an active participation in training and giving technical advice in the area of disease classification, and to have spearheaded and exchanged this work in the Americas and also in other regions of the world", said Dr. Laurenti in his speech of acceptance.
Dr. Duhl, a US citizen professor of Public Health and City Planning at the University of California, received the prestigious Award from Mr. Matthew McHugh, Trustee of the Foundation, in an official ceremony during the Pan American Sanitary Conference of the Pan American Health Organization, held in Washington DC on 25 September.
Dr. Duhl, together with other professionals in the area of health promotion, prepared the background papers for the successful launching of the WHO Healthy Cities Project in Europe. Since then, healthy city projects have started in almost all countries of the Americas and in many countries of the world, always with Dr. Duhl's guidance. For more than 30 years he has been a true inspiration to all professionals working in the areas of health promotion and environmental health.
"Today we recognize Dr. Eichelberger, a world-renowned pediatric surgeon, for his far-reaching commitment to children and his movement beyond the traditional role of a surgeon to become a major international influence and successful advocate for the prevention of childhood injury. He has distinguished himself for a lifelong dedication to the medical and social aspects of child injuries", said Mr. McHugh.
Dr. Uauy & His Excellency Andres Bianchi, Ambassador from Chile to the USA.