The Sedgwick Memorial Medal, APHA’s oldest and most prestigious award, was established in honor of the late Professor William Thompson Sedgwick and was first awarded by APHA for distinguished service and advancement of public health knowledge and practice in 1929. Professor Sedgwick was president of APHA in 1915 and Head of the Department of Biological and Public Health at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1883 to 1921. The Sedgwick award, one of the highest honors bestowed by APHA, is a true accolade of the profession – the recognition by an individual’s colleagues of outstanding accomplishments in the field of public health.
Sections, SPIGs, Affiliated Associations, Boards and Committees of the American Public Health Association are particularly encouraged to propose the name of an individual as a candidate.
Nomination Form
Previous Winners
2023 Nancy Krieger, PhD, MS
2022 Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA
2021 Oliver T. Fein, MD
2020 Robert K. Ross, MD
2019 F. Douglas Scutchfield, MD
2018 Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA
2017 Jose F. Cordero, MD, MPH
2016 Lawrence W. Green, MPH, DrPH, DSc (Hon.)
2015 Hortensia Amaro, PhD, MA
2014 Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH
2013 Douglas B. Kirby, PhD
2012 Richard J. Jackson, MD, MPH
2011 David Satcher, MD, PhD
2010 William Schaffner, MD
2009 Robert S. Lawrence, MD
2008 John Murray Last, MD, DPH
2007 Mohammad N. Akhter, MD, MPH
2006 Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH
2005 Barry S. Levy, MD, MPH
2004 Kenneth Olden, PhD, ScD, LHD
2003 E. Richard Brown, PhD, MA
2002 C. William Keck, MD, MPH, FACPM
2001 Myron Allukian, Jr., DDS, MPH
2000 Philip R. Lee, MD, MS
1999 Avedis Donabedian, MD, MPH
1998 H. Jack Geiger, MD, ScD (Hon.)
1997 Victor W. Sidel, MD
1996 Leonard Schuman, MSc, MD
1995 Joyce Lashof, MD, DMSc (Hon.)
1994 William H. McBeath, MD, MPH
1993 William H. Foege, MD, MPH
1992 Julius B. Richmond, MD
1991 Ruth Roemer, JD
1990 Cecil G. Sheps, MD, MPH
1989 Clarence L. Brumback, MD, MPH
1988 Dorothy P. Rice, BA, ScD (Hon.)
1987 Larry J. Gordon, MS, MPH
1986 C. Arden Miller, MD
1985 Henrik L. Blum, MD, MPH
1984 Milton Terris, MD, MPH
1983 Milton I. Roemer, MD, MPH
1982 C. Rufus Rorem, PhD, CPA
1981 Dwight F. Metzler, CE, SM
1980 Lorin E. Kerr, MD, MSPH
1979 Doris E. Roberts, RN, MPH, PhD
1978 M. Allen Pond, MPH
1977 Lester Breslow, MD, MPH
1976 Malcolm H. Merrill, MD, MPH
1975 Leroy E. Burney, MD, MPH
1974 Myron E. Wegman, MD, MPH
1973 Isidore S. Falk, PhD
1972 Paul R. Cornely, MD, MPH
1971 Margaret G. Arnstein, RN, MPH
1970 Hugh R. Leavell, MD, DrPH
1969 Marion W. Sheahan, RN
1968 Herman E. Hilleboe, MD
1967 George Baehr, MD
1966 Fred L. Soper, MD, DrPH
1965 Willimina R. Walsh
1964 Leona Baumgartner, MD, PhD
1963 Gaylord W. Anderson, MD, DrPH
1962 Ira V. Hiscock, ScD, MPH
1961 Frank G. Boudreau, MD
1960 Fred T. Foard, MD
1959 Louis I. Dublin, PhD
1958 Martha M. Eliot, MD
1957 Lowell J. Reed, PhD
1956 Frederick W. Jackson, MD, DPH
1955 Albert J. Chesley, MD
1954 Willson G. Smillie, MD, DrPH
1953 Carl E. Buck, DrPH
1952 Kenneth F. Maxcy, MD, DrPH
1951 Edward S. Godfrey, Jr., MD
1950 Rolla Eugene Dyer, MD
1949 Henry F. Vaughan, DrPH
1948 Abel Wolman, DrEng
1947 Reginald M. Atwater, MD
1946 Karl F. Meyer, MD
1944 Ernest W. Goodpasture, MD
1943 James S. Simmons, MD
1942 C.E.A. Winslow, DrPH
1941 Charles Armstrong, MD
1940 Hans Zinsser, MD
1939 Thomas Parran, MD
1938 Wade H. Frost, MD
1936 Frederick F. Russell, MD
1935 Haven Emerson, MD
1934 Edwin O. Jordon, PhD
1933 Milton J. Rosenau, MD
1932 William H. Park, MD
1931 George W. McCoy, MD
1930 Theobald Smith, MD
1929 Charles V. Chapin, MD