SOPHE recognizes professionals, practitioners, researchers, faculty, and students for their excellence and contributions to health education and health promotion

Digital awards ceremony on YouTube livestream Thursday, March 24, 2022

Washington, DC – February 25, 2022 – The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) will present more than 30 awards and scholarships to health education researchers, faculty, programs, practitioners, and students during its evening awards ceremony at SOPHE’s 73rd 2022 Digital Annual Conference on Thursday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m. 

SOPHE’s awards and scholarships recognize significant achievements in the health education and health promotion profession and outstanding contributions of veterans and rising stars to improve the health of all.

Join SOPHE in congratulating the following individuals on their award and recognition.

Lloyd J. Kolbe, PhD, emeritus professor of Applied Health Science at the Indiana University School of Public Health Bloomington will receive SOPHE’s highest honor, the Distinguished Fellow Award.

This award recognizes an individual who has made a significant and lasting contribution to SOPHE and to the professions of health education or public health. 

Dr. Kolbe has held senior positions across private-sector, government, and academic institutions. He conducts public health policy research and development to improve child and adolescent health and education in the U.S. and other nations. He has authored more than 160 scientific publications about the health and education of young people, school health programs, and public health policies.

Martha Katz, MPA, chair of the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation, is the recipient of SOPHE’s highest honor to a non-member, the Honorary Fellow Award. Ms. Katz is a health policy leader who is committed to the use of policy strategies to improve health and access to quality health care for all. 

She led the development of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s policy and budget strategies for 10 years and co-chaired Healthy People 2000, which reinforced the national commitment to addressing health disparities. She was instrumental in establishing the CDC Foundation and was its first program director. Katz will receive her award and give her remarks during the opening plenary at SOPHE’s 2022 Annual Conference. 

The 2022 Karen Denard Goldman Health Education Mentor Award recipient, Michele Bildner, MPH MCHES®, is a professor in the Department of Health Education and Promotion Program in the Family and Consumer Science at Fontbonne University in Missouri. The many years of energy, dedication, and investment that Bildner demonstrated exemplifies the meaning of a health education mentor. She co-developed SOPHE’s UPLIFTS leadership course. Bildner was the 2021 president of SOPHE’s Midwest Chapter. In 2022, she will serve as speaker elect in SOPHE’s House of Delegates.

M. Elaine Auld Horizon Award
Arden Castle, MPH, CHES®, San José State University  

Graduate Student Research Paper
Erin-Leigh Gallop, EdD, MS, Teachers College, Columbia University

Vivian Drenckhahn Student Scholars
Mabintou Darboe, University of New Haven
Dhaani Dhaani, University of New Haven
Samantha Vernon, University of Northern Colorado

SOPHE/CDC Injury Prevention Student Fellows
Lauren Berny, University of Oregon
Lena Thompson, University of Iowa 
Lindsay Keeling, New Mexico State University 

SOPHE Patient Engagement Student Fellow
Brenna Kirk, West Virginia University

SOPHE’s 21st Century Student Scholars
Sri Prathima Kanneganti, University of New Haven
Ruth Kameswara, University of New Haven
Samantha Serrano, North Central College
Khyati Rustagi, University of New Haven
Tsehay Gebreyes, Borough of Manhattan Community College at City University of New York
Tyra Montour, Texas A&M University 
Jane Murphy, University of Alabama at Birmingham

SOPHE’s 21st Century Health Education Practice Scholars
Derek Cegelka, Stephen F. Austin State University
Amy Wotring, Indiana State University
Ruopeng An, Washington University, St. Louis
Sarah Toth, Alabama A&M University

SOPHE Chapter Award for Excellence 
Midwest SOPHE

Papers of the Year
Health Education & Behavior’s 2021 Lawrence W. Green Paper of the Year awardee is Lisa Bowleg, Ma, PhD, for her article, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”: Ten Critical Lessons for Black and Other Health Equity Researchers of Color. Health Education & Behavior, 48(3), 237-249.

Health Promotoion Practice’s 2021 Sarah Mazelis Paper of the Year awardee is Ryan J. Petteway for his article, “Poetry as Praxis + “Illumination”: Toward an Epistemically Just Health Promotion for Resistance, Healing, and (Re)Imagination.” Health Promotion Practice, 22(1_suppl), 20S-26S. 

Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning’s 2021 Paper of the Year awardees are Gary Harper, PhD, MPH and Leah Neubauer, EdD, MA for their article, “Teaching During a Pandemic: A Model for Trauma Informed Education and Administration.” Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 7(1).


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