Glyn G. Caldwell, MS, MD, received a BS from St. Louis University (1960); an MS (1962) and MD (1966), from the University of Missouri at Columbia. After an internship at the US Public Health Service (USPHS) Hospital, Brighton, MA, Dr. Caldwell became Leukemia & Oncology Unit Chief, Ecological Investigation Program (EIP), National Communicable Disease Center, Kansas City, MO (1968), followed by a residency in Internal Medicine, Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital. Returning to Kansas City he became the EIP Viral Disease Section Chief until 1974, then joined CDC, Cancer & Birth Defects Branch, Epidemiology Program. The CDC reorganized and created Chronic Diseases Division where he became Cancer Branch Chief, then Deputy Director (1980). In 1985, he retired from CDC and the USPHS, reaching the rank of Director (Navy equivalent of Captain).

At the CDC he focused on time-space cancer clusters and environmental emergency responses (Love Canal, Three Mile Island, Mount Saint Helen’s), and a follow-up study of soldiers exposed to Nevada Nuclear Test site detonation, August 1957. He was the CDC oversight for chemical weapons demilitarizing, UT Dugway Proving Ground and Johnson Atoll, South Pacific; involved in other exposure studies (Savannah River Nuclear Facility in SC; Hanford Nuclear Plant in WA); and participated on numerous emergency response and planning committees. He was on the original AIDS Steering Committee beginning in 1981.

Dr. Caldwell was the AZ State Epidemiologist (1985-1987); Deputy Director-AZ State Health Department; Director-Tulsa City County Health Department, Tulsa, OK (1990-1995); Associate Clinical Coordinator -IN & KY Peer Review Organization (HealthCare Excel); Director- Division of Epidemiology & Health Planning, KDPH, and KY State Epidemiologist (1998). His association with UK CPH began as a member of the external advisory committee and adjunct assistant professor. He joined UK faculty as part-time assistant professor (2001), became Interim Director of the Kentucky Injury Prevention Research Center (2003) and serves as Interim Chair of UK CPH Department of Epidemiology. He serves on UK CPH Faculty Council; UK Pandemic Influenza Task Force; Fatality Assessment Case Evaluation Project; Integrated Core Injury Prevention Program; and Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System. He is mentor to MPH and DrPH students.

In 1990 Henry Cole was appointed as professor of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Kentucky College of Public Health. He is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Kentucky, College of Education where for 33 years he taught educational psychology, applied learning theory and cognitive psychology, program evaluation, and instructional design. His EdD from the State University of New York at Buffalo is in educational psychology and science education. He is an internationally recognized expert in teaching critical judgment and decisions-making skills using case materials and narrative psychology principles. Prior to coming to UK he was an educational researcher and assistant professor at Syracuse and Cornell Universities. He completed post-doctoral study in Injury Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, American Public Health Association, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineers, and the National Institute for Farm Safety.

His interdisciplinary research targets prevention of occupational injuries to mining, construction, and hazardous waste, agricultural, health care workers, and rural high school teachers and students, among others. It begins with injury epidemiology to determine the prevalence and distribution of injuries within worker populations followed by community-based interventions that combine environmental and engineering controls with behavioral and educational interventions to reduce exposure to specific occupational injury hazards. The theoretical basis for this approach is described in “Stories to live by: A narrative approach to health-behavior research and injury prevention,” Handbook of health behavior research methods (Plenum, 1997).

Dr. Cole is a life-long part-time farmer. Early in his career he taught high school physics and general science. Subsequent to the, he served as a US Army medical laboratory technician, and later a clinical laboratory and hemodialysis technician at the Buffalo General Hospital, Department of Therapeutic Engineering.

In 1993 he was appointed as a United Nations, International Labor Organization expert in behavioral safety and occupational injury prevention. As part of that assignment he studied at the Economic, Social, and Cultural Asian-Pacific (ESCAP) Development Program at the UN Headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. His international work in mine safety includes assignments in South Africa, Australia, and the Peoples Republic of China.

RADM (Ret.) Dixie E. Snider, Jr., MD, MPH, is currently a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director, CDC, and works on special projects. Dr. Snider joined CDC in 1973 working as a medical office at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 1975 he was appointed Chief of the Research Branch in the Division of Tuberculosis Control and published numerous papers on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of TB. In 1985, he became Director of the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at a time when TB rates were rising. He and his colleagues developed a National Plan for Tuberculosis Elimination and a National Plan for Combating Multidrug Resistant TB. He also assisted the World Health Organization rejuvenate its TB control activities. National and global efforts in TB control were better funded and national TB rates began to go down.

Dr. Snider worked in the Office of the Director in the “chief scientist position” under a number of titles from 1993-2006. His responsibilities included maintaining scientific credibility, human subjects protection, immunization recommendations, animal welfare, scientific clearance, scientific review, ethics, and technology transfer. He also was the key proponent of the Presidential apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Dr. Snider received his BS degree in chemistry in 1965 from Western Kentucky University. He graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1969 with highest honors. He served his internship in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a resident in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital and at Vanderbilt University. He received a Masters of Public Health degree from Emory University in 1984. Dr. Snider is board-certified in internal medicine, allergy and clinical immunology, and preventive medicine. He is the recipient of numerous distinguished honors, including the William C. Watson, Jr., Medal of Excellence, the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Outstanding Service Medal, the USPHS Meritorious Service Medal, and the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service. Dr. Snider is a member of several professional societies and has held several offices in these societies. He is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific articles and has made hundreds of presentations at scientific meetings.

Dr. Tom Young was inspired at an early age by the life of Dr. Albert Schweitzer to build a life and profession of service. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a BS in 1973, he attended University of Louisville Medical School and a pediatric residency in Indiana. He completed a fellowship in Community Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and an MPH from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. After 14 years of private pediatric practice in both rural and urban settings, Dr. Young transitioned to the University of Kentucky to work in school health and in primary care for underserved populations. His work has always reflected the philosophy that medical, dental, mental, and public healthcare need to be integrated and provide each child with a medical home. Working to deliver this model in schools has been a lifelong passion.

As president of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Young helped to form the legislation for KCHIP and served as the first Chair of the KCHIP Council. He continues to advocate for the rights of all children having access to health insurance and quality health care. After initial global health missions to Guatemala in the early 1990’s, Dr. Young has worked to follow his dream of global service. In 2002 he started with 5 pediatric residents on a medical trip to Ecuador. This has grown into Shoulder to Shoulder Global, operating a full time health clinic in a shantytown in Ecuador, offering internships for UK students and medical residents in Ecuador, with over 100 student and volunteer participants in medical brigades each year. Future plans are to expand to India and Africa.

He received the Humanitarian Award given by the National Conference for Community and Justice in 1999. The American Academy of Pediatrics gave Dr. Young their “Local Hero Award” in 2006. In addition, UK pediatric residents have honored him with four Doane Fischer Faculty Awards for Community Pediatrics. Dr. Young has received the gift of service to others and knows that service is not a sacrifice but a tremendous gift to oneself and hopes others can receive this gift.

Gilbert H. Friedell, M.D. is Director Emeritus of the Markey Cancer Center, Professor of Pathology Emeritus, and—since 2005—Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He has been a member of the Advisory Committee of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work since 2005.

Dr. Friedell graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1949, and received his training in pathology in Boston.  He has been involved for many years in the conduct of laboratory and clinical cancer research and in cancer control activities, with particular emphasis on problems concerning cervical, breast, and urinary bladder cancer.  He taught at the Harvard, Boston University and University of Massachusetts Medical Schools before coming to Kentucky. While serving as the Chief of Pathology and then the Medical Director of a 600 bed community teaching hospital in Worcester, MA, he was the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Bladder Cancer Project from 1971 to 1983.

Arriving in Kentucky in 1983 as the first Director of the Markey Cancer Center, Dr. Friedell was the founding director of the Kentucky Cancer Registry, the Principal Investigator of the NCI Mid-South Cancer Information Service, and Co-Director of a statewide cancer control outreach program, now termed the Kentucky Cancer Program. All were developed in association with the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, although based at the Markey Cancer Center. In 1990 he stepped down as Director of the Cancer Center to become full time Director for Cancer Control.  He retired in 1998.  Since then he has focused on a variety of activities to enhance the health of the public.

Since 2005 he and a number of others, concerned about the severely dysfunctional state of the health system in Kentucky, have been developing what has become the citizen-led, statewide, independent, non-partisan Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation.  The Committee emphasizes the importance of using its values-based set of principles as benchmarks in assessing the current system, as foundational elements of any reformed system, and as criteria for evaluating the results over time of any changes to the present system.

Throughout his career, Dr. Friedell has put particular emphasis on reaching the medically underserved.  Since coming to Kentucky, one focus of his activities has been on the control of cancer and other chronic diseases in the rural population of Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia. As one example, in 1994 he and his colleagues started Kentucky Homeplace at the UK Center for Rural Health, a lay health worker program funded by the General Assembly to facilitate access to healthcare services for the underserved.  It is now active in 58 primarily rural counties across the state.

Among his honors are the following:

• National Humanitarian Award, American Cancer Society   1998;
• Individual Community Service Award, Susan G. Komen Foundation  1998; 
• Special Recognition Award from the Appalachian Regional Commission, 2003 for “Untiring commitment, dedication and leadership in improving the health and well-being of the people of Appalachia”.

Rice C. Leach, MD grew up in Lexington and Louisville before going east to Amherst College.  He returned to Lexington and graduated from the University of Kentucky College Of Medicine in 1966.  Dr. Kurt Deuschle influenced his career choice from the first day in a Community Medicine seminar and subsequent student assignments in Owen County, Kentucky, Guatemala and Bolivia where he learned Spanish.

After graduation in 1966 he joined the United States Public Health Service for a rotating internship in New Orleans.  He was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma the first day of his surgery rotation and notes that he became a “career officer” that day.   His first real public health assignment was with the Navajo Tribe where he was responsible for school health, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, environmental health and other preventive health programs. 

He received his formal public health training at the Harvard School of Public Health and served as health program director for Indian Health Programs in Arizona and the Dakotas.  He worked with the American Hospital Association, NASA, the American Lung Association, the Arizona Hospital Association, and the Statewide Health Planning Agency of South Dakota before leaving the Indian Health Service to become Chief of Staff to the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service. 

He retired from active duty and returned to Kentucky in 1992 as the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, a position he held for 12 years.  On his watch the department conducted a survey of the state’s general health and oral health, developed a nationally acknowledged controlled substance prescription monitoring system, and managed controversial regulatory issues.  He constantly emphasized the importance of focusing the public health resources on community wide problems and linking the public health mission with both the public health educational efforts of the state universities and the medical practices across the state.  “He put public health back on the map” in the minds of many.

Following retirement from the state health department he joined the staff of the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department as executive director of the Primary care center where inability to pay is not a deterrent to receiving medical and dental primary care services. 

He has been recognized by Amherst College, the University of Kentucky, the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, and the United States Public Health Service and others for his contributions to Public Health.

John Wiggs joined the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry as a Department Administrator in 1969. He subsequently served the College of Dentistry for ten years as Director of Financial Aid and Director of Special Student Programs.  In these roles he  actively sought financial aid for minority students in the College and operated summer programs to market dentistry as a career. He served as Director of Health Careers Program for the UK Medical Center from 1982-1995, recruiting minority students and students from medically underserved urban and rural areas to Medical Center Academic Programs. In this capacity, he also administered health career related summer enrichment programs such as Health Career Opportunity Program (HCOP) and Professional Education Preparation Program (PEPP). Mr. Wiggs then served as Student Development Director in the Medical Center Minority Affairs Office (1995-1999) which involved recruitment of minority students into undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in the Colleges of Allied Health Professions (now Health Sciences), Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. In addition, he was a member of admissions committees in the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, primarily as an advocate for diversity.

In 1999, Mr. Wiggs joined Dr. F. Douglas Scutchfield to help build the University of Kentucky School of Public Health and ultimately played an active leadership role with the ASPH centralized application service (SOPHAS) which designated the University of Kentucky College of Public Health as one of the pilot participating schools. Under the direction of Dr. Stephen W. Wyatt, John Wiggs became Associate Dean for Student Affairs in 2004 and continued his commitment to diversity. His activities resulted in one of, if not the most diverse student enrollments in the UK system.

In 2002 Mr. Wiggs was recognized by the UK Chandler Medical Center Dr. Martin Luther King Dream Award, an honor presented annually to an administrator and staff member who promote Dr. King’s teachings of equality in jobs and in their community.  In June of 2006, he was inducted into the Beta Gamma Chapter of Delta Omega, the national Honor Society of Public Health.

John Sterling Wiggs was a champion for diversity, tolerance, and inclusiveness. His career serves as an exemplar of the gifts, talents and wisdom of a true American mentor, leader, visionary and teacher.  He turned his love for the University into a remarkable career, touching countless lives along the way.

He was described this way: “…the heart and soul of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and has had an indelible impact on the college, his faculty and staff colleagues, and all of the students.”

Edgar Erskine Hume was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, on December 26, 1889. A graduate of Centre College, he received his MD degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1913. Following his graduation from the Army Medical School in 1917, he was commissioned a first Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. Dr. Hume had a distinguished military career, having commanded a base hospital during World War I, he served as the American Red Cross Commissioner for Serbia following the War and directed the Balkan anti-typhus fever campaign. During World War II, his assignments included appointment as chief of public health for Sicily followed by service in Italy and Austria following the war. In July, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur appointed his Surgeon (Director General of Medical Services) of the United Nations Command in Korea. Three weeks after retiring from the US Army, Major General Edgar Erskine Hume died on January 24, 1952. At the time of his death, he was President General of the Society of the Cincinnati. For Hume, war was the most terrible of all diseases and his actions as a soldier were dedicated to its cure. He fought earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, famines, economic dislocations, plagues, and whatever made humanity miserable. Dr. Hume’s public health accomplishments include being one of the founders of the public health honorary society, Delta Omega. His history includes serving in the Division of Sanitation with General Gorgas and in 1922 he received am MPH degree from Harvard University and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine. In 1924 he received a Doctor of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University while serving as a librarian at the Army Medical Library, now the National Library of Medicine. He not only fought the typhus epidemic in Serbia in World War I, but in 1943 to 1944 he was called upon to battle typhus. In 1947 in recognition of his battle against typhus, he received the Typhus Commission Medal for his meritorious service.

Wade Mountz, MHA is President Emeritus of Norton Healthcare, the region's largest healthcare network. Mr. Mountz has a long and distinguished career as a leader in not-for-profit hospital administration, and as an advocate for improved healthcare and education for the citizens of the Commonwealth. Following service in the Naval Air Corps, Mr. Mountz pursued a bachelors degree at Wallace College, and a Masters degree in Hospital Administration from the University of Minnesota. He first came to Louisville in 1950 as an administrative resident at Norton Memorial Infirmary. He became the third hospital administrator in Kentucky with graduate training in the field. In what he refers to as “such fun over the years”, he remained at Norton Infirmary as Personnel Director and Assistant Administrator, and subsequently Administrator. Following mergers, he was named President & Chief Executive Officer of Norton-Children’s Hospitals, NKC, Inc., and Alliant Health System. He continues to serve as President Emeritus of the renamed Norton Healthcare, the largest not-for-profit health care system in Kentucky, and one of the top 100 integrated healthcare systems in the United States. Upon his official retirement from Norton in 1988, he became Acting President/Chief Executive Officer of VHA, Inc. The VHA hospital cooperative keeps the U.S. well through a network of 2,200 community-owned hospitals, offering activities including networking and education for health care workers,and clinical performance improvement programs.

Mr. Mountz is an active health professional serving on numerous committees and task forces of the American Hospital Association, rising to the role of AHA Speaker of the House, and as a Member of the Board of Trustees. He is the only Kentuckian to serve as Chair of the Board of Trustees. He also served as Kentucky Regent, and is a Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Mr. Mountz served two terms as chair of the Comprehensive Health Planning Council of Kentucky. His professional service is extensive and includes the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, the Board of Governors of the Frontier Nursing Service, the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel, the Methodist Retirement Homes of Kentucky, the Salvation Army Hospital & Home Advisory Board, and the Advisory Council for Medical Assistance for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Mr. Mountz's many public appointments include; President Reagan’s Health Policy Advisory Group, the Hill-Burton Advisory Council for Health Facilities, the Kentucky Commission on Families and Children, the Executive Committee of the Louisville Health & Welfare Council, and the Kentucky Council on Allied Medical Services.

Mr. Mountz has also been an active advocate for education in the Commonwealth. He tells us that his wife Betty engaged him in PTA activities when their children David and Timothy were young. He has continued to contribute to education in Kentucky serving on the Kentucky Board of Education, the Kentucky Council on Higher Education, the Governor’s Committee to Study the Career Ladder Plan for Teachers, the Southern Regional Education Board Commission on Health and Human Services, and as a Trustee of Kentucky Wesleyan College.

Of particular note, since its inception he has served as a member and chair and of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, an organization dedicated to advocating for improved education for all Kentuckians. He is one of only three members appointed in 1983, continuously serving for almost twenty-five years.

Wade Mountz has been recognized for his service to the public and the health care profession with numerous awards including: the American College of Healthcare Executives Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Hospital Administration, the Kentucky Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award, the VHA 25th Anniversary Founders Award, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College. In 1991, the Kentucky Healthcare Strategy Forum sought to focus its attention on those individuals who have distinguished themselves through their contribution to the enhancement of the practices of healthcare planning and marketing. The Forum honored Mr. Mountz for his outstanding personal accomplishments with the presentation of the first annual award and by dedicating the award in his name.

In summarizing Mr. Mountz’s career, Steven Williams, his successor as President & Chief Executive Officer at Norton Healthcare said, “Wade Mountz’ name is recognized as an icon within the healthcare management landscape. His extraordinary leadership of the Norton organization has long been recognized as a role model for executives everywhere. And his leadership…has earned him tremendous respect covering at least two generations of healthcare executives. But the Wade Mountz I know is also a man of impeccable integrity and strong values. While adhering to the best of professional standards, he was a progressive risk taker, not hesitant to challenge conventional thinking if it made sense for our organization and good patient care. Wade's leadership talents didn't stop when he retired from healthcare; his contribution to Kentucky's educational system is well known through his dedication to the work of the Prichard Committee and associated activities. On the personal side, Wade has been a role model for over 30 years, and has provided me with opportunities that my wife Kathy and I could have never dreamed. Just to know Wade Mountz is a privilege. Having the good fortune to work for him was a life-enhancing experience to be treasured.”

Dr. Patricia K. Nicol was born and raised in Louisville, KY, receiving the MD degree from the University of Louisville in 1952 and MPH from the University of California, Berkeley. Upon graduation from the University of Louisville, she became health officer of the Harlan County Health Dept., and later of the Hardin County Health Department. In 1972 she became the Director of the Division of Medical Care, Kentucky Department of Health Services and was instrumental in establishing Kentucky's Medicaid program. In 1974, she was appointed as the director of the Division of Maternal and Child Health, Kentucky Department of Health, and held that position until her retirement in 1994. For those twenty years, she directed a team of health care professionals whose efforts had a major impact on Kentucky's maternal and infant mortality rates, with the resulting decrease from some of the highest in the nation to the lowest in the Southeast and among the lowest in the nation. Additionally, during her tenure, she oversaw the development of the statewide family planning program, the establishment of maternity clinics in all of Kentucky's 120 counties, newborn screening for infants of mothers served by this program and established the Sudden Infant Syndrome Program and the Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program for infants and children. Under her leadership, Kentucky became one of the first states in the country to develop a program for the regionalization of perinatal care. The successful WIC program, with increasing funding and patient enrollment, became the entry point for many Kentuckians into integrated healthcare services. She was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of such integrated service delivery systems by positively impacting health outcomes. Her division participated in the establishment of health service components in Family Resource/Youth Services centers in connection with the Kentucky Education Reform activities beginning in 1990, and in the establishment of the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program.

Lois A. Baker has made outstanding contributions to the health and well-being of countless residents of southeastern Kentucky. Appointed as CEO of Mountain Comprehensive Healthcare as the corporation was being defunded, even before its first clinic was opened Mrs. Baker immediately set out to reverse this disastrous decision by lobbying for a reprieve and a chance to show what MCHC could do for the people of Appalachia if given a chance. Through her resolute efforts and the efforts of allied local officials Mountain Comprehensive’s first clinic was opened in 1972, in Wooten Kentucky. This first clinic was no more than two trailers connected by a roof, but it was the beginning of effective health care in the area; and from that moment on, Lois Baker and MCHC never looked back. Clinics were opened and built “a brick at a time”, opening the corporation's first purpose-built clinic in McRoberts, Kentucky in 1974, MCHC's second purpose-built clinic, the Leatherwood/Blakey Clinic, in 1975, and the flagship clinic, the Whitesburg Medical Clinic. Mrs. Baker has also overseen MCHC's expansion into Jackson, Buckhorn, Booneville, and Harlan Counties providing services to some of the most vulnerable populations in Eastern Kentucky and making it the largest primary care center in Kentucky.

She has also been a valuable and diligent member of the selection committee of the University of Kentucky College Of Medicine, where she has advocated for students from Eastern Kentucky to be accepted into the College of Medicine.

She has been recognized by her peers, both in the Commonwealth and in the nation, as a promoter of quality, affordable health care, having been selected to be Chairman of the Board of the Kentucky Primary Care Association; and inducted into the National Association of Community Health Center's "Grass Roots Advocacy Hall of Fame" in 2005. The Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation was recognized as "the Outstanding Rural Health Practice," in May, 2000 by the Rural Health Care Association.

Upon receiving his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry in 1956, Dr. Thomas Merlin Cooper went on to serve in the U. S. Army Dental Corps as a clinical dentist from 1956 to 1958, where he rose among the ranks to Army Captain. Subsequently, he spent nine years in private practice and continued on to serve as a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry for 28 years.

As a smoker for over 36 years, his own personal battle to stop smoking was unsuccessful until 1984, when he began collaborating with Dr. Richard Clayton to develop a program to change the behavior of smokers. In 1991 the two patented “The Cooper-Clayton Method to Stop Smoking.” The Cooper Clayton Method is a safe and effective way to help people stay smoke-free for the rest of their lives and has saved countless lives by helping thousands to stop smoking. This highly successful program is science based utilizing proven methods, which include education, skills training, and social support.  

Their original intent was to get Dr. Cooper off his 36 year journey with cigarettes. Since that time they have made over 350 presentations to both professional and lay groups on ‘How to Help the Nicotine Dependent Smoker.’ The Cooper-Clayton Method is being delivered in all the Kentucky Departments for Public Health. Drs. Clayton and Cooper have trained over 2,800 K-Mart Pharmacists to provide nicotine dependence counseling nationally, as well 800 facilitatators in worksite locations, health departments, and hospitals in Kentucky. The method is also used in several other states such as Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Illinois.  When asked how he plans to spend the rest of his life, Dr. Cooper replied, “As long as there are smokers lighting up cigarettes, I hope to be teaching them that nonsmoking is a better option.”

Dr. Kurt Deuschle is known as the father of Community Medicine. Dr. Deuschle began his professional career as a tuberculosis clinician with the U.S. Public Health Service in Arizona, where he was immediately struck with the role of family, community, and environment in individual illness.Soon he was to begin five years as Director of the Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, Many Farms, which became a classic community-based program model for integrating research, service, and education in remote and underserved areas.

In 1960 it was Kurt Deuschle who developed at the University of Kentucky what was then the only U.S. medical school department named Community Medicine – and name was not its only distinction.There were many innovations but throughout, the stated major objective was a clinical approach to the identification and solution of health problems of populations.Later, as Professor and Chairman of Community Medicine at Mount Sinai, he proved the applicability of this philosophy and approach not only for rural areas, but also for the megalopolis.

Dr. Deuschle personally defined the new discipline of Community Medicine.In the field at the Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, he teased its basic elements from the realities of community life, and tested its principles in daily practice.At Kentucky his vision and energy firmly established its worth as an essential element in general medical education.In New York City he saw its precepts applied for good to the problems of troubled communities which lie in the shadow of great medical centers. There are hundreds of Arizona Navajo, Appalachian highlanders, and East Harlem residents who recall vividly their personal contacts with Kurt Deuschle and are grateful for the clear direct contribution he has made to their individual and collective lives.Dr. Deuschle passed away in 2003, but his greatest lasting contribution to our society is his continuing inspiration of a whole generation of students, residents, fellows, and colleagues whose lives have been touched by his association and guided by his influence.

Dr. Cora Newell-Fletcher is a native and long-time resident of Kentucky who has dedicated her life to the people of Appalachia through development of nurses and service to her community. 

Her passion for the people enabled her to secure over $9.5 million in grants that were used for a church based clinic and the comprehensive health center, the Berea Health Ministry.

As founder and president of the Berea Health Ministry she provided primary health care for individuals in the seven-county area in and around Madison County who lack the protection of health care insurance.

Upon the discovery that a growing number of people in her community had been putting off visits to the doctor because of a lack of money, she decided something had to be done. Through her tireless efforts the ministry was able to open it doors to its first uninsured patients in November 2003.Patients are asked to pay a minimal fee per visit, but if they can’t afford to do so, services are still rendered.Patients with insurance are seen once and volunteers work with those patients to help them find a doctor. The clinic relies on more than eight professionals including a full time nurse practitioner, one volunteer physician, registered dietitian, social workers, nurses, and physician assistants.

For her community and professional activism she has been recognized with accolades from the National Council of Nursing, American Academy of Nursing, Professional Women of Berea and Berea Chamber of Commerce as Woman of the Year, and a Susan B. Clayton Fellow of Berea College. In addition to her multiple accomplishments she, as well as several other phenomenal women, will be featured in the book “Black Women in Kentucky”, which explores the lives of African-American women past and present who have made a difference in their various communities across the state.

The impact that Ted Hanekamp’s efforts and work have made on public health at local, state, and national levels is noteworthy. He has invested his career to improve the health outcomes of pregnant women, infants, and children.

He obtained his M.P.H. in Public Health Administration from the University of North Carolina, and began his career in public health with the Kentucky Department for Public Health in the Chronic Disease program. He worked with the traveling cardiovascular disease clinics that brought consultative services to local health departments. 

In 1976 he was appointed Director of the Statewide Family Planning Program. He played an instrumental role in bringing recognition to the OB/GYN nurse practitioner certification process. During the ensuing years Kentucky was able to build a strong family planning program with a component in every local health department, with funding from local funds, Maternal and Child Health block grant, and the Title X Federal Family Planning funds. In 1985 he was appointed manager of the Maternal and Family Planning Services Branch, which was responsible for all the department of public health’s prenatal, SIDS, regionalization of perinatal care, and family planning programs. Following the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990, Ted was chosen to represent the Department on the Family Resource/Youth Services Center Advisory Committee. This committee was instrumental in incorporating public health and social services activities into this massive effort to reform Kentucky's education system. Those centers are a vital part of Kentucky's schools.   By the time he retired from the state government in 1992, Kentucky could boast of having prenatal and family planning clinics in every county. During his career he was part of a team that helped facilitate a decline in infant mortality, maternal mortality, out of wedlock teenage pregnancy, and incidence of low birth weight in the Commonwealth.

Dr. M. Raynor Mullins devoted his life to educating student dentists, advocating for underserved populations, and building interdisciplinary teams to improve dental public health and address oral health and general health disparities in Kentucky and the United States.

Under his 30-plus years of leadership, the UK College of Dentistry’s Department of Community Dentistry, and the Division of Dental Public Health, developed a national and international reputation for excellence in preventive dentistry, auxiliary education and dental outreach, and public service. 

Dr. Mullins served as Outreach Director for the UK Center for Oral Health Research, helping to develop collaborative research and service projects in rural Kentucky. 

Amongst his most substantial and lasting contributions were: the development of collaborative partnership with the Kentucky Department for Public Health that helped rebuild the state dental public health infrastructure, advocacy leading to inclusion of dental benefits for children in KCHIP, and the development of UK Dental Care, a dental insurance program that improves access to oral health care for more than 10,000 UK enrollees.

The Kentucky Public Health Dental Partnership received the prestigious Glaxo SmithKline Partnership for Healthy Children Award from APHA. In 2005-2006, 31,000 Kentuckians received services via this partnership. UK mobile dental programs provide prevention and care for the underserved children across Eastern and Western Kentucky. These programs received national recognition from General Colin Powell with a 2001 America’s Promise Award that was presented to the UK College of Dentistry by President George Bush in the Rose Garden. 

Dr. Mullins also worked on research linking oral health infections and general health and the development of a regional access model for dental education, research and service. His activities helped position UK as a national leader in these areas. On the national front, he also served as president of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

Dr. Harvey G. Sloane is a public health physician with extensive “grass roots” and organizational experience. He has demonstrated his leadership abilities as a physician, politician, and public health advocate.

After earning his M.D. at Case Western Reserve University and completing his medical-surgical internship at the Cleveland Clinic, he joined President Kennedy’s Appalachian Health Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service providing health care in eastern Kentucky. Subsequently, he served as a volunteer physician in Vietnam in 1966 treating Vietnamese civilians. Returning to the United States, he initiated and developed the Park DuValle Neighborhood Health Center in Louisville, Kentucky that served 30,000 in public housing. 

Dr. Sloane was twice elected as mayor of Louisville, KY serving from 1973 to 1977. In 1990 he wanted to go back to his roots in healthcare and public health at the national and international level so he moved back to his home site in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Center for Health Policy Research, president and co-founder of Health Care America and Health Care for America Policy Institute, and the National Association of Community Health Centers that worked to link physician training with community and academic health centers. Most notably, he was the Commissioner of Health of Washington, D.C.

He served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Project HOPE, a Washington based charity promoting early childhood development and rural health issues, and work with the Knight Foundation establishing early childhood literacy programs in Gary, Indiana and Camden, New Jersey. As the Director of Public Health at the Eurasian Medical Education Program he inaugurated fascinating work in Russia on HIV, tuberculosis, and cardiovascular control around the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and Far East Russia. The majority of the work is in partnership with the American College of Physicians training Russian physicians both in the U.S. and in their home regions on TB and HIV/AIDS control and advocating necessary resources.

For over thirty years, Dr. Juanita W. Fleming was a member of the faculty at the University of Kentucky, College of Nursing, and held many important administrative positions at UK while maintaining a record of academic service that places her among UK’s most notable academic administrators.  In fact, while serving as the Special Assistant for the President for Academic Affairs, she was the first female to be a member of the President’s cabinet. Known for her contributions to the fields of child health and development and cultural diversity in health care, Dr. Fleming generated over $6 million in external support for research and programs and was responsible for over $9 million in funded projects, authored three books, more than 20 book chapters, and over 50 published articles.  She “retired” from UK in 2001, only to be summoned to Kentucky State University two years later to serve as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and has been in the position on a permanent basis since July 2004.  She was selected and served as an American Council of Education Fellow in 1977, and holds an honorary doctorate in Public Service from Berea College.  Dr. Fleming has always had a special interest in the health and welfare of children.  Her long list of professional accomplishments, awards, and distinguished service reflect her statement of a sincere personal belief: “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence in their chosen field.”

Dr. Mary Pauline Fox is a native of Artemus, Kentucky and a graduate of Union College in Barborville, KY.  Her impact on the people of Kentucky began shortly after receiving her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Louisville in 1956. She was one of 6 women graduates in her class of 100 and the first woman physician to go back to practice in Bell County. She served the people of Leslie, Perry and Knott Counties as Health Officer from 1959 to 1966. She was Regional Director for twenty Eastern Kentucky Counties for the Kentucky Health Department until 1966. Continuing to serve much of the population in Appalachia, Dr. Fox was the Assistant Medical Director of the Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden Kentucky from 1966 to 1969. She was also acting Medical Director for the Leslie County Office of Economic Opportunity Health Program. She worked with Dr. Russell Hall as Assistant Medical Director of the Floyd County Comprehensive Health Program until assuming duties as Health officer for the Pike County Health Department in July of 1970. As the health department's director, Fox often spoke at schools, businesses, and in community forums about medical care, in general, and the need for enhanced medical services. She has been called a pioneer in family planning concepts, and said she took deep interest in offering pre-natal medical care to Eastern Kentucky's women. She built three up to date health departments for Knott, Leslie and Pike Counties. Dr. Fox retired in 1993. Mary Pauline Fox has also been called a crusader for social justice. Examples of her focus on justice include her campaign in Washington for sanitary outhouse conditions and building a domestic violence shelter to assist abused families. When she sees an injustice, she works to correct it.

Dr. Gene Lewis devoted his entire career to improve access to primary and oral health care for those with the most need. After receiving his Doctor in Dental Surgery at Baylor University, his public health dental career began with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). He worked for many years in Region IV of the USPHS; working with Kentucky and other Southeastern states to develop new health professions colleges, new community health centers and National Health Service Corps initiatives. In 1972, Dean Harry Bohannon recruited Dr. Lewis to come to UK as the Chairman of the Department of Community Dentistry. From 1972 - 1975 he served as Assistant Dean, Associate Dean and then Interim Dean of the College of Dentistry. He then returned to the USPHS and held several Director Positions in Region IV. Dr. Lewis is a Diplomat of the Board of Dental Public Health. In 1981, he served as President of the American Association of Public Health Dentists and has served on the Governing Council of American Public Health Association. His career with the USPHS spanned 20 years and culminated in a special assignment as the Executive Assistant to Kentucky Health Services Commissioner from 1982-86. In 1988, Dr. Lewis accepted the call to head up the Program of Public and Professional Services at the UK College of Dentistry where he continued to develop programs to improve the lives of citizens of the Commonwealth. His visionary leadership led to creation of the Kentucky Oral Health Coalition, the first in the nation focused on the oral health needs of the public. Dr. Lewis conducted the first state-wide survey of oral health in 1987 and published the first Kentucky Smile Curriculum for elementary schools. He also created the College of Dentistry's current school dental outreach programs serving Appalachia. The quality of these endeavors was recognized in 1990 by the American Dental Association with an award for Developing Dental Access Programs in Kentucky.

Dan Martin’s life long mission has been the provision of health care to residents of the Commonwealth. Following service in the Navy, Dan attended the University of North Carolina receiving his BS in 1949. He received his Doctor of Medicine at Harvard in 1952. He completed his residency at North Carolina and stayed there as a fellow and Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine until he relocated to Kentucky in 1965. In 1965 Dr. Martin accepted a position at Trover Clinic in Community Medicine, a position as Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine here at UK, and also assumed the duties of health officer of Hopkins County Health Department, a position he has held for 40 years! As the health officer for Hopkins County he has developed numerous innovative programs to provide services for the most vulnerable populations. He bridged the gap between public and private medicine using public health programs, services and education in the private sector of medicine. He was responsible for setting up a primary health care clinic within the health department, implementing telemedicine in a school based clinic, providing mobile dental services, jail consolation services, school health clinics and education of health career students about community medicine. Dr. Martin was the recipient of the Kentucky Rural Health Association Lifetime in rural Health Award in 2003 and the chamber of Commerce Loman D. Trover Award in 1989. His long list of professional advisory boards and committees and awards are testimony to his lifelong devotion to improving the health status and health access for people in the Commonwealth.

Dr. A.T. McCormack succeeded his father Nathaniel as Secretary of the Kentucky State Board of Health, under A.T.'s direction, the Board established various bureaus of "a really practical agency" in the Western Kentucky Normal University in Bowling Green. Between 1913 and 1933 the Board received grants from several sources including the Rockefeller Foundation to make the Jefferson County Health Department the nation’s first full time county health department. Dr. McCormack demonstrated leadership in the establishment of local health departments in the Commonwealth, establishing 45 full time county departments by 1929, and 86 by 1940. In addition, Dr. McCormack established a School of Public Health at the University of Louisville (1919) awarding certificates to public health practitioners, he served as the only Director of the school, as well as Professor of Tropical Health and Sanitation. In 1937, Dr. McCormack wrote Kentucky’s plan and initial operation of regularly scheduled and ongoing in-service education for public health professionals in the State Department of Public Health, personnel of cooperating county and city health departments, and allied (clinicians) groups. McCormack served as President of the Southern Section of the American Public Health Association, and in 1950 the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO) recognized Dr. McCormack’s significant contribution to public health through the establishment of the McCormack Award. For over 55 years the McCormack Award has been presented annually to a current or former public health official who has served in public health for at least ten years, has demonstrated excellence, and has made a significant contribution to the knowledge and practice of the field.

William R Willard was selected to become the founder of the UK Medical Center. He was the Founding Dean of the College of Medicine, the Colleges of Nursing, Dentistry, and Allied Health at UK. . He created the first medical school departments of community medicine and behavior science. Dr. Willard held his MD and DrPH degrees from Yale, and served as the state health officer of Maryland. While Chair of the AMA’s Council on Medical Education he successfully negotiated the creation of family medicine and gave it, within medicine, the responsibility for physician concerns with the community. He was given the AMA’s Distinguished Service Award and the AAMC’s Abraham Flexner award for this leadership.  Dr. Willard was key to the creation of the Ohio Valley Regional Medical Program, the comprehensive health planning activities of Kentucky, the Appalachia Regional Commissions health demonstration project in Eastern Kentucky, the Appalachia Regional Health Care system and the Area Health Education concept. He was actively involved in efforts to further enhance and improve health and health care for Kentucky’s citizens. He was an advisor to such leaders in Kentucky as Loman Trover and C. Louise Caudill, as they built major Kentucky regional medical centers.  Dr. Willard left UK in 1972 and became the founding Dean of the College of Community Health Science at the University of Alabama. In this capacity he continued his efforts to provide primary care and community health improvement projects to citizens of rural Alabama. His vision and writing in 1960 regarding community health, medical and health professions education would be considered contemporary by today’s standards. He was a visionary, a skilled administrator, and a warm and caring individual. He was well known as an administrator who hired young people, supported and mentored them and watched them soar to the top of their profession. He was much loved by his colleagues and those whose lives were touched by his work. 

Howard L. Bost’s life-long mission was the provision of health care to the Commonwealth and the nation. He earned a Ph.D. in medical economics from the University of Michigan, the first such degree awarded in the nation. Dr. Bost not only played an active role in the creation and development of the University of Kentucky’s Chandler Medical Center, in 1960 he also worked on the Kentucky Governor’s Commission that drafted legislation that developed a program for medical assistance for the poor. His leadership in this role earned him the appointment of Executive Director of the Committee on Health Care of the Aged under Senator Jacob Javits, which ultimately resulted, in the passage of Medicare legislation, a program that provides universal medical benefits to the aged in the United States. Dr. Bost then served as the first Deputy Director of the Bureau of Health Services in the Social Security Administration under President John F. Kennedy. When he returned to Kentucky, Dr. Bost continued to advocate for health care for the Commonwealth and the nation through a variety of activities, including building UK’s employee retirement program and spearheading the creation of Appalachian Regional Hospitals, serving Central Appalachia. Upon his retirement from UK in 1982, his family established the Howard L. Bost Health Services Management Award for the outstanding graduating HSM student.

The story of Mary Breckinridge is well known in the annals of health care, not just in Kentucky and the United States, but throughout the world. In 1925 she founded the Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies in Leslie County, Kentucky, and in 1928, the name was changed to the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), a project through which she introduced the first trained nurse-midwives to the United States. She was familiar with eastern Kentucky since she had family that resided there and her great- great grandfather, John Breckinridge, served as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Riding horses up mountains, through fog, flood, or snow, the FNS nurses brought modern healthcare to one of the poorest and most inaccessible areas in the U.S. Ms. Breckinridge demonstrated that care provided by nurse-midwives, acting as nurses to the total family, would drastically cut infant and maternal mortality and also morbidity and mortality for the entire community. The legacy of this remarkable woman lives on through provision of clinical services through FNS operated clinical facilities, as well as educational programming by the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. FNS celebrated 75 years of service in the year 2000.

Viola Davis Brown, through determination and resolution, made a significant impact on the health of Kentuckians. Mrs. Brown broke the color barrier in nursing education, becoming the first African American to attend a nursing school in Lexington. Upon graduation from the nursing program at St. Joseph Hospital in 1959, she continued with the hospital, shortly being appointed Supervisor of Nursing. In 1972, Ms. Brown was among the first graduates of the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program, a pilot program developed by the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine and the Hunter Foundation for Health Care. In 1980, she was appointed by Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, Jr., as Executive Director of the Office of Public Health Nursing, the first African American nurse to head a state office of public health nursing in the United States. Later, she became Principal Assistant to the Kentucky Commissioner of Health, Chief Nurse Representative to all branches of state government, local health departments, health professions and the community, at large. Governor Wallace Wilkinson, in 1988 appointed her Project Coordinator of the Governor’s Interdisciplinary Task force on Nursing Shortages. While she was in the position of Principal Assistant, the number of public health nurses in Kentucky grew from 350 to 1400. Her tenure in the position of Principal Assistant to the Commissioner extended through the administration of five governors and three State Commissioners.

After earning his medical degree, Dr. Chambers served as Fayette County Health Officer. He joined the UK faculty in 1928 as the first Director of the Department of Hygiene and Public Health and as head of the University Health Service where he used population-based data to identify major health problems associated with hygiene and outlined methods to address those problems. In 1930 he obtained funds to offer a certificate series in public health for health officers, nurses, and sanitarians. Chambers was a proliferate author. Topics among his many manuscripts included the public health and medical needs of the population, insufficient health personnel to meet these needs, and the articulation of medicine and public health. He also published a book, The Conquest of Cholera. Throughout his career at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Chambers advocated and lobbied for the creation of a medical center and a school of public health, among other health professional programs at the University of Kentucky. Had he been successful in his efforts on behalf of a school of public health, UK would have had one of the earliest schools of public health in the nation. In the opinion of many, the Chandler Medical Center resides in Lexington because of the extraordinary efforts of John Sharpe Chambers.

After completing his medical degree at the University of Louisville, School of Medicine, his residency training and a stint with the U.S. Air Force, Dr. William McBeath returned to Kentucky in 1961 as a field officer with the Heart Disease Control Program of the US Public Health Service.  He also became the first resident in the Department of Community Medicine at UK and later joined the department as faculty. As Director of the Division of Medical Care for the Department of Health, Dr. McBeath was at the forefront of implementing landmark federal legislation such as Medicare and Medicaid. His office also began the new federal-state Medicaid program in Kentucky, known as the Kentucky Medical Assistance Program, which purchased medical care for welfare recipients. In 1973, Dr. McBeath left Kentucky to become Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. In recognition of his 20 years of service to APHA and in appreciation for his selfless commitment to public health, he was awarded the Sedgewick Memorial Medal, the organization’s most prestigious honor. His commitment to equity and fairness in APHA and in his personal life is best described in a special note from the organization’s parting tribute, “APHA’s early recognition of the importance of diversity as a matter of justice and as a source of vitality for the Association is a tribute to Bill McBeath’s principles and his genius in implementing them.” 

Dr. Joseph Nathaniel McCormack was born in Nelson County in 1847. A graduate of Miami Medical College, Dr. McCormack might be referred to as the father of Public Health in Kentucky.He was appointed to the State Board of Health in 1879.He was elected as the first secretary of the Board in 1883, an office he held for over 30 continuous years.

Dr. McCormack was elected President of the Kentucky Medical Association in 1883, and maintained the offices of both the Board of Health, and KMA from his home in Bowling Green.

In 1883, he was elected Secretary of the National Conference of State Boards of Health, and became its president the following year.He was also an active member of the American Public Health Association. Along with his son, Dr. A. T. McCormack, he wrote virtually all of the Kentucky health statutes.The current Kentucky Department of Public Health is based upon the essential fundamentals envisioned by Dr. McCormack: sanitation, birth and death monitoring, laboratory, and public health nursing.

Upon his retirement as President of the Board of Health, his son, Dr. Arthur T. McCormack, succeeded him and he remained as a Director of the Board and its Bureau of Sanitation.He subsequently served on the Rockefeller Foundation Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease.In 1903, Dr. McCormack noted, “If we doctors threw all our medicines into the sea, it would be that much better for our patients, and that much worse for the fishes.”Upon his death, the Kentucky Medical Association recognized him for his role as State Health Officer for “enactment of sanitary laws and cooperation of the intelligent laity in their enforcement.”

For more than four decades, the founder of Rudd Equipment Company, Mason C. Rudd, used his considerable energy, talent and resources to promote the health of the people of the Commonwealth.In 1971, he became Chair of the Louisville Metro Board of Health, and his tenure in the position can be characterized as exceptional, both for his length of service and for his commitment to the cause of public health. Mr. Rudd played a pivotal role in the creation of many nationally recognized public health and health care initiatives, such as the Childhood Lead Poisoning Program, the AIDS Prevention Program and a national bioterrorism training center at the University of Louisville. Mr. Rudd also has been a tireless advocate for the environmental aspect of public health. During his tenure, regulations were developed governing the maintenance and operation of private wastewater treatment plants, ands septic tanks were banned in certain areas of Jefferson County.Mr. Rudd also championed accessibility to quality health care for all the people of Metro Louisville, particularly underserved populations. He was very active in the planning and construction of the University of Louisville Hospital and served as Chair of the University Hospital Board. In 1996, Jewish Hospital named its new 14 story Heart Lung Center for Mason C. Rudd.Mr. Rudd’s lifelong advocacy for the health and well-being of the people of Kentucky has demonstrated what a generous benefactor he is, not just to medicine and to medical research, but to individuals in hardship and populations in need.

Born in Owensboro, KY, Dr. Clay E. Simpson, Jr., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., dedicated his professional career to improving the health of America’s disadvantaged populations. In 1959 Dr. Simpson earned a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Kentucky, the forerunner to the Master of Public Health that is offered in the College of Public Health today.Throughout his career, Dr. Simpson managed and helped create programs of vital importance to the development of health care practitioners from disadvantaged backgrounds and programs that gave access to underserved, usually minority populations. One such program, the Health Careers Opportunity Program, provides academic enrichment services to over 10,000 students annually in more than 200 projects throughout the United States.In July, 1995, Dr. Simpson was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and served in this position until his retirement on January 30, 1999.He also directed the HHS Office of Minority Health. This federal office is ultimately responsible for promoting programs that have the potential to improve the health status of minority populations in the United States.Dr. Simpson was the recipient of two Surgeon General’s Medallions and the Superior Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Public Health Service.