Dr. D. A. Henderson named recipient of Prince Mahidol Award in Public Health

The Prince Mahidol Award Foundation announced today that its 2014 recipient of the Prince Mahidol Award in Public Health is Dr. D. A. Henderson, Distinguished Scholar at the UPMC Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Maryland.

The prize, an international award, was founded by King Rama IX Bhumbibol Adulyadej on the 100th anniversary of the birth of his father, Prince Mahidol, who was the father of public health and medicine in Thailand. Each year since 1997, two awards, for public health and for medicine, have been given. The public health award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of public health for the sake of the well-being of the people.

Dr. Henderson's career has included his service as Director of the World Health Organization's global smallpox eradication campaign (1966-77), which resulted in the eradication of the disease. He has also served as the Director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and as a Principal Science Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He has been Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President (1990-93); Dean of the Faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (1977-90); and Chief of the Surveillance Section of the Epidemiology Branch of the Centers for Disease Control (1961-66).

In addition to his work at the UPMC Center for Health Security, Dr. Henderson is currently a Professor of Public Health and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and Dean Emeritus and Professor of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a graduate of Oberlin College, the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

The Prince Mahidol Award ceremony will be held in Bangkok in the last week of January 2015 and presided over by His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand, who is the youngest son of Prince Mahidol. It is the only award ceremony presided over by His Majesty the King every year. As a representative of His Majesty the King, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the President of the Prince Mahidol Foundation, hosts an annual banquet in honor of the laureates after the ceremony.

SOURCE UPMC Center for Health Security