Boston, Mass., November 5, 2006 -- Anthony B. Iton, MD, JD, MPH, was presented the American Public Health Association (APHA)’s 2006 Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health Work today in recognition for his exceptionally creative and innovative local public health efforts. Cox received the award here during APHA’s 134th Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Iton is a health officer with the Alameda County Public Health Department in Oakland, Calif. Prior to that post, Iton was director of health and social services for the city of Stamford, Conn.
Iton previously worked as an HIV disability rights attorney at the Berkeley Community Law Center, a health care policy analyst with Consumers Union West Coast Regional Office and as a physician and advocate for the homeless at the San Francisco Public Health Department. His experience practicing both medicine and law independently has enabled him to blend both disciplines in the day-to-day practice of public health and in responding to recent public health emergencies such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and anthrax.
In Connecticut, Iton developed the local protocol for prophylaxing postal employees after exposure to anthrax spores at a postal distribution center and taught a course on the local public health response to bioterrorism at the University of Connecticut.
In Stamford, Iton developed a comprehensive school health database that serves as the template for several unique programs, including a targeted health insurance enrollment program, an asthma home environmental assessment and intervention program and a school-based dental sealant program. Through a partnership with the schools and local hospital, Iton enabled the health department to design targeted interventions that directly address persistent health disparities in lead poisoning, asthma and obesity prevention.
When he left Connecticut for California, the Connecticut General Assembly issued a proclamation noting Iton’s work in asthma, health insurance reform and his key role in getting smoking restricted in bars and restaurants statewide.
“Tony is a unique and profoundly talented public health thinker and practitioner,” wrote APHA member Arnold X. Perkins in a letter nominating Iton for the Roemer Prize. “Tony has demonstrated a compelling vision for how to move public health practice further upstream to better address the root causes of disease. More importantly, he has the ability to infect his colleagues with that vision and to articulate in clear and practical ways the steps necessary to move local public health practice forward towards our stated ideal of eliminating health disparities.”
Iton initiated Stamford’s Westside Project, an interdisciplinary chronic disease prevention program focused on involving an inner-city community in the city’s redevelopment process with an eye toward increasing citizens’ ease of walking and biking around the city.
He is co-chair of the Bay Area Health Inequities Initiative, a collaboration of eight San Francisco Bay area health departments focused on transforming public health practices to better confront the root causes of health inequities.
Among his many awards and honors, Iton received the Champion of Children Award from the United Way, the National Association of City and County Health Officials Award of Excellence for the use of information technology in public health, the HeartSaver Award from the American Heart Association and numerous proclamations from the Connecticut General Assembly, the City of Stamford and the Connecticut Association of Directors of Health.