URMC Celebrates a Decade of Community Health Improvement with Satcher Awards
Two University of Rochester Medical Center faculty members were recognized today for their contributions to community health in the Greater Rochester region at the 10th annual Dr. David Satcher Community Health Improvement Awards. Presented by the Center for Community Health & Prevention of URMC, the awards featured a special grand rounds by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., the 16th surgeon general of the United States, a URMC alum and the awards’ namesake.
Satcher addressed health disparities and the fight to overcome them in his lecture “Mission Oriented Leadership: The Quest for Health Equity.” A panel discussion featuring the awardees immediately followed his lecture.
This year’s Satcher Awards celebrated a decade of progress and commitment by URMC faculty and staff to improving community health throughout Rochester and the Finger Lakes Region through research, teaching, practice and service programs. Created in 2010, the awards reflect the shared mission of the Center for Community Health & Prevention and URMC to develop and expand University-community partnerships that support participatory research and interventions to reduce health inequalities and improve the community's health.
Satcher is a leading voice in public health and has been an integral advisor to the University in helping move this mission forward.
“We were honored to have Dr. Satcher join us again as this year’s keynote speaker,” said Nancy M. Bennett, M.D., M.S., director of the Center for Community Health & Prevention and co-director of the URMC Clinical & Translational Science Institute. “Our two awardees and their community partners, as well as those who have come before them, are true testaments to the passionate work being done to lessen the burden of health disparities in Rochester, and to make it a healthier community for all.”
Award recipients for 2019 are:
Senior Faculty Award
Jill S. Halterman, MD, MPH, is a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She serves as chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and executive vice chair for the Department of Pediatrics. She is a pediatrician and researcher, and principal investigator for several large, NIH-funded studies. Her research program has consisted of a sequence of community-based studies to better understand and improve care for poor children with asthma. She and her team have partnered with the Rochester City School District, the School Nurse Program, and hundreds of children and families to test novel interventions to improve asthma care and reduce morbidity. These programs are now being replicated in communities across the country. The scientific merit of her work has been acknowledged through multiple peer-reviewed publications, substantial extramural funding, and inclusion of several of her publications in the most recent national asthma and school health guidelines.
Junior Faculty Award
Marc S. Lavender, MD, FAAP, is an assistant professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. In his current role as director of the Pediatric Links in the Community at the Hoekelman Center, Lavender channels his passion for community health by teaching young physicians and medical students how to better address the social determinants of health that impact so many of their patients. Through site visits to community-based organizations, a bus transportation exercise, self-reflection, and facilitated discussions, learners not only gain an appreciation for the challenges facing so many Rochesterians, but also learn how to connect their patients to resources that can lessen the negative impact of those challenges. Additionally, Lavender created the City of Rochester Exploration, during which all first-year medical students drive around the city to see first-hand the physical, social, economic and historical factors that contribute to the community’s health. Lavender is also a provider at East Ridge Family Medicine.