Dean and president of the Council on Education for Public Health Dr. Sharonda Wallace recognizes five visionary public health educators.
Dr. Sharonda Wallace is dean of Chamberlain University’s Master of Public Health program, which aspires to prepare professionals to advance the health and well-being of people, communities, and nations.
She is also 2024 president of the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit public health programs. Throughout 2024, CEPH is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
A registered dietitian nutritionist and licensed dietitian, Dr. Wallace is a trailblazer in improving health through diet.
Here, Dr. Wallace shares a few trailblazing Black public health educators who inspire her leadership at Chamberlain and CEPH.
Celebrating 5 Notable Black Americans in Public Health Education
Dr. Ionia Rollin Whipper (1872 – 1953)
In her time, this Howard University-trained physician was one of the few Black obstetricians in Washington, D.C., and a crusader for Black maternal healthcare. A public health educator and officer in World War I, Dr. Whipper devoted much of her career to teaching and founding organizations to improve the healthcare of low-income Black women.
Dr. Roscoe Conkling Brown Sr. (1884 – 1963)
Dr. Brown was a Howard, Columbia, and Harvard graduate. He practiced dentistry and taught hygiene and sanitation at the Richmond Hospital Training School for Nurses. During WWI, he lectured at military camps, and after the war became senior health consultant for the US Public Health Service. He also led the National Health Week Committee and National Negro Health Movement.
Dr. Numa Pompilius Garfield Adams (1885 – 1940)
Dr. Adams was the first Black dean of the medical school at Howard University. During his tenure, he oversaw the integration of the Freedmen’s Hospital with Howard. Among many leadership roles, he served on the board of directors for the Tuberculosis Association of the District of Columbia.
Dr. Sherman A. James
Dr. James is the Susan B. King Emeritus Professor of Public Policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. A distinguished epidemiologist and researcher, his work focuses on the social determinants of health and racial disparities. He is best known for his “John Henryism” hypothesis that attributes the premature deaths of Black Americans related to hypertension and cardiovascular disease to prolonged exposure to stress from discrimination and racism.
Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey
Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey is a Harvard-educated physician who was CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for 16 years. There she worked to build equity in communities and health systems. She was also a longtime professor and leader at the University of Pennsylvania. Among her many accomplishments was leading a significant campaign against obesity in children. She appeared on Forbes’ list of the most important women in the world multiple times.
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