WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is proud to announce that SOPHE President Leonard Jack, Jr. will be awarded the Karen Denard Goldman Health Education Mentor Award during the 2025 SOPHE Annual Conference in Long Beach, April 16-18.
“I am forever thankful to the many individuals that have allowed me to be part of their lives over the years,” said Jack, Jr., who is also at the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) where he serves as Editor in Chief of the peer-reviewed journal, Preventing Chronic Disease. “I never thought I would be recognized for doing something that has brought me tremendous joy. I am honored to be selected as the 2025 recipient of the Karen Denard Goldman Health Education Mentor Award.”
This award recognizes a National SOPHE member in an academic or practice setting who has made significant contributions to the preparation and/or performance of health educators and who has successfully forged the link between research and practice.
“[It] simply warms my heart and makes this award super special,” Jack, Jr. said. “It makes it special because receiving this award affirms my commitment to having a positive impact on people regardless of their stage in educational development or career status.”
Jack, Jr’s credentials are too many to list, but he was the Director of CDC’s Division of Community Health (DCH) in the NCCDPHP. Before leading DCH, he held several academic and CDC leadership positions, among them Professor and Jim Finks Endowed Chair of Health Promotion at the School of Public Health in the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (New Orleans), Professor of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine, as well as Associate Dean for Research, Director of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education; the Endowed Chair of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research; Professor in the Division of Clinical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy; and Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, at Xavier University of Louisiana.
Jack, Jr. embodies this award as he believes strongly in the reciprocity of mentorship. His years with the CDC and in academia exemplifies this belief and has earned him notable recognitions across his career. He received the Jeffery P. Koplan Award, the highest recognition from CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; the Council of Science Editors’ (CSE) Distinguished Service Award; the Alumni Recognition Award from the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Health and Human Development; and SOPHE’S Distinguished Fellow Award.
“There is an important bi-directional relationship between research and practice (what occurs in real-world settings) as they both shape one another,” he said. “It has been my goal to prepare health educators and others working in the field of public health to courageously raise difficult questions, offer bold new insights, and implement innovative action steps from both a research and practice perspective–recognizing one cannot evolve or thrive without the other.”
SOPHE will present all awards and scholarships to public health professionals, health education researchers, faculty, programs, and practitioners at the 2025 SOPHE Annual Conference in April in Long Beach. These awards and scholarships recognize significant advancements in the profession of health education and health promotion and outstanding contributions of well-established and rising stars to improving the public’s health.
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About SOPHE
The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is a nonprofit association that supports leaders in public health, health education and promotion to advance healthy and equitable communities across the globe. SOPHE members work in health care settings, communities, organizations, schools, universities, worksites, and in local, state and federal government agencies. For more information visit www.sophe.org.
