Thomas LaVeist Receives Health Disparities Innovation Award (weba article)

Thomas LaVeist, PhD, director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions and the William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been named the recipient of the 2008 Health Disparities Innovation Award. The award is given annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, to an individual, group or organization that demonstrates extraordinary contributions in science, practice or policy toward the improvement of minority health or the elimination of health disparities.

LaVeist was recognized for his ability to examine health disparities from a broad perspective; the innovative design of his study, “Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities”, which controls for confounding socioeconomic and environmental factors; and his work creating the Cultural Competency Organizational Assessment – 360, a tool for assessing the cultural competency of health care organizations. The award was presented on December 17, 2008 at the NIH Summit: The Science of Eliminating Health Disparities awards banquet in National Harbor, Md.

“Health disparities are a mounting problem that will increasingly affect the nation on many fronts and is a ticking bomb that will have policy, economic and political implications,” said LaVeist. “My work with the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions has given me the opportunity to examine the effects of these disparities, but also the solutions. I am extremely grateful to my many colleagues who have supported and assisted me throughout my career.”

LaVeist joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1990, where he teaches courses in minority health and public health policy. During his tenure he has conducted several important studies on minority health and authored the book, Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the U.S.(Jossey-Bass Publishers 2005)—Natalie Wood-Wright