Newsmakers: May/June 2012

Teddi Dineley Johnson

UCLA School of Public Health honors Fielding

The University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health in February announced it will be renamed the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health. The name is being changed in honor of APHA member Jonathan Fielding, MD, MPH, MBA, MA, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and his wife, Karin Fielding.

Fischer lauded at White House

APHA member JoAnne Fischer, MSS, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Maternity Care Coalition, in March was honored at the White House as one of President Barack Obama’s “Champions of Change.” The honor, part of Obama’s Winning the Future Across America program, recognizes Fischer’s dedication to ensuring that the Affordable Care Act adequately addresses the needs of women and children, and that its benefits are readily available to them.

Berwick joins Center for American Progress

The Center for American Progress in March announced that Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, will join the organization as a senior fellow. In his new role, Berwick will focus on defending health care reform, ensuring its successful implementation and developing new ideas to provide better care at lower costs. Berwick formerly served as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Colfax to lead White House AIDS prevention initiative

Grant Colfax, MD, in March was named director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, which is a component of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Colfax was most recently director of the HIV Prevention Section in the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

HHS honors innovative ideas

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in March announced six winners in the HHSinnovates program, which celebrates inventive new ideas to help carry out the department’s mission. The winning innovations included Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, a social media campaign that uses humor and popular culture to convey basic messages about disaster preparedness. The Million Hearts campaign, a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in America over five years, was also a finalist.

Shine honored for multiple leadership roles

Kenneth Shine, MD, in March received a 2011 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award from the National Quality Forum and Joint Commission. Shine, who is a former president of the Institute of Medicine, received the award for leading numerous initiatives to improve quality and safety in health care.

Lieberman to lead American Psychiatric Association

Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, in March was named president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. Lieberman is psychiatrist-in-chief at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center, as well as chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Gibbons takes top job at NHLBI

Gary Gibbons, MD, in April was named director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Gibbons is the founder and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, where he chairs the Department of Physiology and serves as a professor of physiology and medicine.