PRESS ROOM
Contacts:
Michael S. Broder, (510) 642-9572, mbroder@berkeley.edu
Linda Anderberg, (510) 643-4707, landerberg@berkeley.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Printer-friendly press release and background
Two public health heroes to receive award from
UC Berkeley School of Public Health
SAN FRANCISCO—Dr. Marcus A. Conant, a physician who was among the first to identify and treat AIDS, and Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN Commissioner on Human Rights, will each receive a 16th annual Public Health Heroes Award from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The awards will be presented at a gala reception and ceremony at the Hotel Nikko San Francisco.
The awardees will receive an honor that is considered to be the only such prize given by a university to recognize individuals and organizations for their efforts to build healthier lives in a safer world.
Dr. Marcus Conant, a dermatologist and HIV/AIDS primary care physician, will receive the Public Health Hero award for his lifetime efforts in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. Dr. Donald P. Francis, executive director at Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases, will present the award to Conant.
Mary Robinson will receive the Public Health Hero award for her advocacy for the rights of all people to personal health and a safe environment in which to live. Richard Blum, chairman of Blum Capital Partners, L.P., will present the award to Robinson.
“Both honorees are passionate in their beliefs and have demonstrated courageous leadership and advocacy,” said Stephen Shortell, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
The Public Health Heroes honor was established in 1996 by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health to recognize innovative leaders for improving human health locally and worldwide. For information about this year's Public Health Heroes Awards ceremony or to buy tickets, visit http://www.publichealthheroes.org
About Dr. Marcus A. Conant
Dr. Marcus A. Conant is an honored and respected pioneer, lecturer, physician, and outspoken advocate for people with HIV and AIDS. Among the first physicians to identify AIDS in 1981, he helped create one of the largest private AIDS clinics, was a founder of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and contributed to development of some of today’s top HIV medications. In 1989 he created The Conant Foundation, a nonprofit education foundation that provides patients, their caregivers, and the community with educational tools and information regarding diagnosis, treatment, and management of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Conant and the foundation have contributed to more than two dozen clinical trials involving many of today’s leading HIV medications. He continues his strong, passionate and uncompromising demands to give hope to all people with AIDS through state-of-the-art treatment and the assurance they can live with dignity and respect. More about Dr. Marcus A. Conant.
About Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson, the first woman president of Ireland, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and founder and president of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, has been a lifelong champion of health as a human right. She has used her influence as a world leader to advocate for maternal health, reproductive choices, immunizations, and the right to food and clean water. As an academic, legislator, and barrister, she sought to use law as an instrument for social change, arguing landmark cases before the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court in Luxembourg as well as in the Irish courts. In 1988 Robinson and her husband founded the Irish Centre for European Law at the Trinity College. Ten years later she was elected chancellor of the University of Dublin. Among her numerous honors is the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama. She is a member of The Elders, former chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, a member of the Club of Madrid, former chair of the GAVI Alliance board and former president of the International Commission of Jurists. She now serves as president of the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice. More about Mary Robinson.
About the Public Health Hero Award
The Public Health Hero award was founded to honor pioneers working toward improved health for all and to raise awareness of the field of public health. The 58 previous recipients of UC Berkeley Public Health Hero award have included actor Rob Reiner, who cofounded the I Am Your Child Foundation; Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer-prize-winning author of The Coming Plague; and Dr. Paul Farmer, founding director of Partners in Health.
About the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health
Building on a campus tradition of preeminent interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scholarship, education, and public engagement that challenges conventional thinking, the UC Berkeley School of Public Health develops diverse leaders equipped to help solve the health challenges of the 21st century and beyond. The school's mission is to conduct world class, rigorous research; apply knowledge to prevent disease and injury and promote the health of individuals and communities in California, the United States and the world; develop diverse leaders for professional and research careers through undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs; and enhance the knowledge and skills of the public health workforce through continuing education and technical assistance.
