American Public Health Association Honors Two Bloomberg School Faculty

The American Public Health Association has recognized two Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty for their contributions to their respective fields in public health. 

Pamela Collins, MD, MPH, a Bloomberg Centennial Professor and chair of the Department of Mental Health, received the Carl Taube Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Field of Mental Health from APHA’s Mental Health Section. Donald Warne, MD, MPH, (Oglala Lakota), a professor and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, received the Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practices Section Impact Award.

The awards were presented this week at the APHA annual conference in Washington, D.C.

The Carl Taube Award was created in 1990 to honor Carl Taube, a statistician who promoted mental health services and policy research and mental health economics. Collins, who is also director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Mental Health, entered the field of global mental health early in her career when she joined a project in Argentina to expand access to mental health services by integrating mental health and primary care. 

A trained psychiatrist, Collins has worked for more than 25 years at the intersection of HIV and mental health care for populations around the world. She has led efforts to expand access to HIV care for people with mental health conditions and access to mental health interventions through leadership roles at the National Institutes of Health and in academia. As a consultant to UNAIDS, she worked with multiple stakeholders to develop key reports, including the 2022 UNAIDS and WHO publication Integration of mental health and HIV interventions: Key Considerations. She is a member of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Scientific Advisory Board.

Collins is currently a principal investigator of a study testing strategies to integrate mental health care into routine HIV services for adolescents living with HIV in Kenya. She is a co-director for the Johns Hopkins University/Emory University Center for HIV and Mental Health Stigma Elimination Strategies. She also collaborates on efforts to integrate evidence-based interventions into faith-based care in Ghana.

APHA’s Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practices Section Impact Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field through research, education, or advocacy. An enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Warne comes from a long line of traditional healers and medicine men. As one of the world’s foremost scholars in Indigenous health as well as a leading physician, his current research includes chronic disease prevention, and advancing health equity through community-driven, culturally grounded approaches. 

Throughout his career, Warne has helped transform the field of Indigenous public health through education, research, and advocacy. Among his recent accomplishments, Warne led the development of the nation’s first Indigenous-focused Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program, launching in academic year 2026-2027 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, along with a corresponding Master of Public Health (MPH). He serves as Senior Policy Advisor to the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board. 

Last month Collins and Warne were elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the most prestigious honors in the fields of health and medicine. 

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Media contacts: Barbara Benham at bbenham1@jhu.edu and Kris Henry khenry39@jhu.edu