Awards Committee-Jennifer Rowland, PhD, PT, MPH
DISABILITY SECTION AWARDS
Do you know someone who has made a significant contribution through scholarship, teaching, practice and/or advocacy to advance the health and quality of life of people with disabilities? If you do, now may be the time to nominate him or her for one of the 2011 Disability Section Awards. Join us in honoring those who have made significant contributions to the field of disability within the context of public health. The Disability Section offers the following awards: 1) Lifetime Achievement, 2) Allan Meyers, 3) New Investigator, 4) Student Member, and 5) Advocacy .
1. Lifetime Achievement Award: This award is presented to a person who, over the course of his or her career, has made a major contribution to the improvement of health and quality of life for people with disabilities through research, teaching, or advocacy. Past award winners have been nationally and/or internationally recognized as major contributors to the disability and public health fields.
Eligibility Criteria:
· Nominees should include senior scholars who have dedicated their careers to making major contributions to the improvement of health and quality of life for people with disabilities through research, teaching, or advocacy and who have been nationally and/or internationally recognized for their work.
· Nominees are not required to be members of the Disability Section of APHA.
2. Allan Meyers Award: This award is named in memory of a prominent scholar in disability and public health and is presented to a person who has combined excellence across the areas of research, teaching and advocacy to improve the health and quality of life for people with disabilities.
Eligibility Criteria:
· Anyone in the field of disability and public health may be nominated.
· Evidence documenting a nominee’s significant contribution across all three areas of research, teaching and advocacy to improve the health and quality of life for people with disabilities must be provided in the nomination statement.
· The nominee must be a member of the Disability Section of APHA.
3. Disability Section Student Member Award: This award is presented to a student who has been engaged in work leading to a career in disability and public health. In that work, the student has demonstrated excellence in scholarship and leadership in independent projects that have advanced the health and quality of life for people with disabilities. A one-year Disability Section membership is included as part of the award.
Eligibility Criteria:
· Nominees can be students who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship and leadership and have been engaged in work leading to a career in disability and public health.
· Nominees are not required to be members of the Disability Section of APHA, but must be a student at the time they are nominated. For example, graduating students are eligible as long as they are students at the time of the nomination (April 8, 2011).
4. New Investigator Award: This award recognizes a new investigator who demonstrates evidence of a promising career in public health research in the area of health and wellness for people with disabilities.
Eligibility Criteria:
· The nominee must have been awarded his or her degree within eight calendar years of the nomination.
· Evidence documenting a nominee’s successful development as a new investigator must be provided. This evidence must include a minimum of one peer-reviewed publication for which the nominee has taken a substantial role.
· The nominee must be a member of the Disability Section of APHA.
5. Advocacy Award: This award is presented to a person who has demonstrated excellence in the area of advocacy to improve the health and quality of life for people with disabilities.
Eligibility Criteria:
· Anyone who has taken action to improve the health and quality of life of people with disabilities may be nominated.
· Evidence of a nominee’s significant contribution in the area of advocacy to improve the health and quality of life of people with disabilities must be provided in the nomination statement.
· The nominee does not have to be a member of the Disability Section of APHA at the time of nomination.
Nomination Instructions:
In addition to a completed award nomination form, please provide a one-page description of your nominee’s contributions as well as the nominee’s curriculum vita or resume. Within your one-page description, you may address the importance of the contributions, the quality of the work, and the originality of the contribution as an exemplar. Nominators do not need to be members of the Disability Section. See eligibility criteria for each award listed to determine the nominee’s membership requirements associated with each particular award.
For further information and to obtain a nomination form, please contact APHA Disability Section Awards Committee Chair Jennifer Rowland, , by e-mail at jenrow@uic.edu with the words “Awards Nomination Form Request” in the e-mail subject line. The deadline for nominations is 5:00 p.m. central standard time on Friday, April 8, 2011. The winners will be presented with their awards at the 2011 APHA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., during the Disability Section Business and Awards Meeting.
Communications Chair Update-Roberta Carlin, MS, JD
Please note the new format for the Disability Section newsletter. We have attempted to incorporate more updates from Section members. Please watch your e-mails in early April for information on posting updates for the Spring Newsletter, which will be published between May 9 and June 3. In the interim, you can send your updates to be posted on the APHA Disability Section Listserv to Roberta Carlin at rcarlin@aahd.us
A new section has been added to the APHA Disability Section website at www.apha.org which highlights Disability Section members and their reasons for being a part of the Disability Section. Thanks to Membership Chair Dr. Dot Nary for taking the time to interview our members and to those members that volunteered to work with Dr. Nary on this new and exciting project.