Newsmakers: March 2010

Latino magazine honors Sumaya

APHA member Ciro V. Sumaya, MD, MPHTM, a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, has been named by “Latino Leaders” magazine as one of the 101 most influential Hispanic leaders in the United States. Founding dean of the School of Rural Public Health, Sumaya is chair of the National Hispanic Medical Association and a member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. He is a former administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and former deputy assistant secretary of health.

Benjamin confirmed as 18th U.S. surgeon general

Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA, was sworn in on Jan. 11 as the nation’s 18th surgeon general. The founder of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., Benjamin is the immediate past chair of the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States and former associate dean for rural health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. In 2002, she became the nation’s first black woman to preside over a state medical society when she was elected president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama.

Foster to head Columbia University’s substance abuse center

William H. Foster, PhD, dean of Maine’s Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, in February became president and chief executive officer of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He will succeed former U.S. Secretary of Health Joseph A. Califano Jr., who founded the center in 1992 and will continue to serve as its chair.

Gray to chair new University of Florida public health department

Gregory C. Gray, MD, MPH, in January was appointed founding chair of the new Department of Environmental and Global Health at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. Gray previously established and directed the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa.

Mitchell to lead marketing, public relations council

Rae Lynn Mitchell, director of communications and institutional advancement at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, in November was elected chair of the Association of Schools of Public Health’s Marketing and Public Relations Council. She previously taught classes in public relations and media relations at Texas A&M University.

Horberg joins HIV/AIDS advisory council

Michael Horberg, MD, in February was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. An HIV clinician and researcher since the 1980s, Horberg serves on the board of directors of the HIV Medicine Association and is director of HIV/AIDS for Kaiser Permanente.

Healthy housing organizations merge

The National Center for Healthy Housing and the Alliance for Healthy Homes in January announced they will merge. The consolidated organization will continue to operate as the National Center for Healthy Housing, with offices in Columbia, Md., and Washington, D.C. The new organization will consolidate research and evaluation, advocacy, consumer education, training and assistance to local governments and community-based organizations.

Substance abuse researchers lauded

National Institute on Drug Abuse researchers Bruce Hinds III, PhD, and Gonzalo Torres, PhD, in January were awarded the White House Office of National Science and Technology Council’s Presidential Award for Early Career Scientists and Engineers. Hinds is associate professor of chemical and materials engineering at the University of Kentucky. Torres is an assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.