MAILMAN SCHOOL - AT THE FRONTLINE - Student News

Twenty students and one student organization were recognized for outstanding dissertations and academic achievement in the field of public health at the Mailman School's 2007 Student Awards ceremony. Department chairs and faculty members provided the audience with an overview of the awardees' accomplishments before Andrew Davidson, PhD, executive vice dean, awarded their certificates. Amid cheers from family and friends, students were also congratulated by Allan Rosenfield, MD, dean of the School.

For the first time, The John and Kathleen Gorman Public Health Humanitarian Award was presented to a student organization, Gulf Coast Recovers. The award recipient is traditionally a student who has demonstrated excellence in commitment to the humane care of individuals and communities, and in advancing consideration of human rights and values in healthcare and prevention. Founded in September 2005 by Kasandra Scales, MPH '07, Gulf Coast Recovers employs a variety of community-building techniques, such as art therapy, to respond to the health needs of those affected by Hurricane Katrina. For more information, visit http://sklad.cumc.columbia.edu/sph/studentlife/org-gcr.php.

This year also marked the establishment of the Allan Rosenfield Fellowship in Health Policy and Public Health. The first recipient of the fellowship, Shobana Ramachandran, MPH '07, was announced by the Kaiser Family Foundation in the spring. Ms. Ramachandran attended the awards ceremony where she was recognized for her research on HIV-positive populations.

The John and Kathleen Gorman Public Health Humanitarian Award		Gulf Coast Recovers
The Joseph L. Fleiss Memorial Prize in Biostatistics		Philip Reiss
The John Van Ryzin Memorial Award in Biostatistics or Statistics		Xiaodong Luo
The Joseph H. Graziano Award for in Environmental Health Sciences for the MPH Degree		Anthony Linton Oliver
The I. Bernard Weinstein Award for Academic Excellence in Environmental Health Sciences for the DrPH/PhD		Molini Patel
The William Farr Award in Epidemiology		Ameena Goga
The Anna C. Gelman Award for Excellence in Epidemiology		Firas Ahmed Paul Gordon Delivette Castor Fangfang Zhang
The Sidney Kark Award in Epidemiology		Bennett Ethan Nemser
The Regina Loewenstein Prize for Academic Excellence in Health Policy and Management		Debra Waldoks Francis Youn
The Population and Family Health Award For Academic Excellence		Karen Austrian Sarah Needham Meghan O’Connor
The Jack Elinson Award		Benjamin Meier
The Sociomedical Sciences Distinguished Masters Integrative Project Award		Nancy H. Worthington
The Eugene Litwak Prize in Sociomedical Sciences		Rosangely Cruz-Rojas
Marisa DeCastro Benton Dissertation Award in Sociomedical Sciences		Laura Di Grande
The Bernard Challenor Spirit Prize		Alison Lin