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Sedgwick Memorial Medal for Distinguished Service in Public Health

The Sedgwick Memorial Medal, APHA’s oldest and most prestigious award, was established in honor of the late Professor William Thompson Sedgwick and was first awarded by APHA for distinguished service and advancement of public health knowledge and practice in 1929. Professor Sedgwick was president of APHA in 1915 and Head of the Department of Biological and Public Health at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1883 to 1921. The Sedgwick award, one of the highest honors bestowed by APHA, is a true accolade of the profession – the recognition by an individual’s colleagues of outstanding accomplishments in the field of public health.

Sections, SPIGs, Affiliated Associations, Boards and Committees of the American Public Health Association are particularly encouraged to propose the name of an individual as a candidate. 

Nomination Form

Previous Winners

2023    Nancy Krieger, PhD, MS
2022    Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA
2021    Oliver T. Fein, MD
2020    Robert K. Ross, MD
2019    F. Douglas Scutchfield, MD
2018    Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA
2017    Jose F. Cordero, MD, MPH
2016    Lawrence W. Green, MPH, DrPH, DSc (Hon.)
2015    Hortensia Amaro, PhD, MA
2014    Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH
2013    Douglas B. Kirby, PhD
2012    Richard J. Jackson, MD, MPH
2011    David Satcher, MD, PhD
2010    William Schaffner, MD
2009    Robert S. Lawrence, MD
2008    John Murray Last, MD, DPH
2007    Mohammad N. Akhter, MD, MPH
2006    Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH
2005    Barry S. Levy, MD, MPH
2004    Kenneth Olden, PhD, ScD, LHD
2003    E. Richard Brown, PhD, MA
2002    C. William Keck, MD, MPH, FACPM
2001    Myron Allukian, Jr., DDS, MPH  
2000    Philip R. Lee, MD, MS
1999    Avedis Donabedian, MD, MPH
1998    H. Jack Geiger, MD, ScD (Hon.) 
1997    Victor W. Sidel, MD
1996    Leonard Schuman, MSc, MD
1995    Joyce Lashof, MD, DMSc (Hon.)
1994    William H. McBeath, MD, MPH
1993    William H. Foege, MD, MPH
1992    Julius B. Richmond, MD
1991    Ruth Roemer, JD
1990    Cecil G. Sheps, MD, MPH
1989    Clarence L. Brumback, MD, MPH
1988    Dorothy P. Rice, BA, ScD (Hon.)
1987    Larry J. Gordon, MS, MPH
1986    C. Arden Miller, MD 
1985    Henrik L. Blum, MD, MPH
1984    Milton Terris, MD, MPH
1983    Milton I. Roemer, MD, MPH
1982    C. Rufus Rorem, PhD, CPA
1981    Dwight F. Metzler, CE, SM
1980    Lorin E. Kerr, MD, MSPH
1979    Doris E. Roberts, RN, MPH, PhD
1978    M. Allen Pond, MPH
1977    Lester Breslow, MD, MPH
1976    Malcolm H. Merrill, MD, MPH
1975    Leroy E. Burney, MD, MPH
1974    Myron E. Wegman, MD, MPH
1973    Isidore S. Falk, PhD
1972    Paul R. Cornely, MD, MPH
1971    Margaret G. Arnstein, RN, MPH
1970    Hugh R. Leavell, MD, DrPH
1969    Marion W. Sheahan, RN
1968    Herman E. Hilleboe, MD
1967    George Baehr, MD
1966    Fred L. Soper, MD, DrPH
1965    Willimina R. Walsh
1964    Leona Baumgartner, MD, PhD
1963    Gaylord W. Anderson, MD, DrPH
1962    Ira V. Hiscock, ScD, MPH
1961    Frank G. Boudreau, MD
1960    Fred T. Foard, MD
1959    Louis I. Dublin, PhD
1958    Martha M. Eliot, MD
1957    Lowell J. Reed, PhD
1956    Frederick W. Jackson, MD, DPH
1955    Albert J. Chesley, MD
1954    Willson G. Smillie, MD, DrPH
1953    Carl E. Buck, DrPH
1952    Kenneth F. Maxcy, MD, DrPH
1951    Edward S. Godfrey, Jr., MD
1950    Rolla Eugene Dyer, MD
1949    Henry F. Vaughan, DrPH
1948    Abel Wolman, DrEng
1947    Reginald M. Atwater, MD 
1946    Karl F. Meyer, MD
1944    Ernest W. Goodpasture, MD
1943    James S. Simmons, MD
1942    C.E.A. Winslow, DrPH
1941    Charles Armstrong, MD
1940    Hans Zinsser, MD
1939    Thomas Parran, MD
1938    Wade H. Frost, MD
1936    Frederick F. Russell, MD
1935    Haven Emerson, MD
1934    Edwin O. Jordon, PhD
1933    Milton J. Rosenau, MD
1932    William H. Park, MD
1931    George W. McCoy, MD
1930    Theobald Smith, MD
1929    Charles V. Chapin, MD