2007 Helen Rodriguez-Trias Award

Maxine D. Hayes, MD, MPH, FAAP received the 2007 Helen Rodriguez-Trias Social Justice Award.

Hayes, state health officer for the Washington State Department of Health, has worked to help the medically under-served and the nation’s vulnerable populations. Over the past three decades, she has given voice to issues such as hunger, pediatric AIDS, health care for the homeless, smoking bans, child labor and pregnancy planning, continually working to improve the health of women and children.

Hayes has served as assistant secretary for community and family health as well as parent-child health services for the state health department. She previously was medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic and project and medical director of the Hinds-Rankin Urban Health Innovations Project. She has forged many alliances and partnerships to influence policy at all levels of government, particularly policies impacting the maternal and child health population.

Hayes has served as president of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, chair of APHA’s Maternal and Child Health Section and national program director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Child Health Initiative. She was appointed to the Institute of Medicine’s Board of Children, Youth and Families and serves as the associate editor of the Maternal and Child Health Journal. She has frequently been consulted by the U.S. Maternal Child Health Bureau on policy issues.

“Maxine Hayes is absolutely tireless,” APHA member Holly Grason, MA, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote in a letter nominating Hayes for the Rodriguez-Trias award.

Among her many publications, Hayes has written articles on health disparities, social justice, advocacy and the special health concerns of minority populations. She has been honored with many awards for her work in maternal and child health, including the American Medical Association’s 2002 Dr. Nathan Davis Award and the 2003 Heroes in Health Care Lifetime Achievement Award through the Washington Health Foundation. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2006 and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Funding for this award is made possible through the generosity of The California Endowment  – A Partner for Healthier Communities