2014 SPH Distinguished Alumni Awards.
Three Boston University School of Public Health alumni have been honored with the School’s 2014 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
This year’s recipients are: Ikushi Onozaki (MPH ’97), medical officer in the Global TB Programme of the World Health Organization; Rodney Vanderwarker (MPH ’08), vice president of primary care, Behavioral Health and Institute Operations of Fenway Health; and Amy (Lang) Zapata, (MPH ’97), director of the Bureau of Family Health of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognize SPH graduates who have made outstanding contributions and exemplify dedication to the field of public health on a local, national, or global level. First given in 1989, this year’s awards will be presented in New Orleans on November 17, 2014, during the SPH alumni reception at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in conjunction with the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting.
Dr. Ikushi Onozaki is a trained physician on infectious disease and respiratory medicine and has been leading the prevalence survey group of the WHO Global Task Force on tuberculosis impact measurement for seven years. He studies high burden countries to improve TB care and control. Since he began leading TB prevalence surveys, many countries in Asia and Africa utilized these surveys to clarify and monitor each nation’s TB state.
Onozaki has contributed to a number of WHO policy papers and guidelines and has mentored a number of young professionals in various countries to implement epidemiological studies and operational research. A native of Japan, Onozaki was the director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Research Institute of Tuberculosis/JATA. He has held positions as advisor, technical expert, and medical director, at other organizations.
Graduating from the School of Medicine at Chiba University in Japan, Onozaki worked in various hospitals and TB clinics. He became interested in public health after three years of TB experience in Nepal. Those experiences brought him to SPH where he concentrated in international health.
Rodney Vanderwarker oversees administration and operations for the behavioral health and medical departments at Fenway Health, the organization’s largest departments. He also manages the partnership between AIDS Action Committee and Fenway Health. Vanderwarker has been at Fenway Health for over 15 years, first serving as a research coordinator on an HIV prevention study. Since then, Vanderwarker has held the positions of administrative director and manager of research operations where he oversaw community education research studies in HIV/AIDS and LGBT health.
Prior to joining Fenway Health, Vanderwarker directed an AIDS service organization in New Hampshire. He was also a peer educator and volunteer coordinator at other New England health organizations.
Vanderwarker earned his Master of Public Health concentrating in health policy and management and graduated with Delta Omega Honors. He currently serves on the SPH Health Policy and Management Department’s Advisory Board. Vanderwarker also holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from LeMoyne College in New York.
Amy Zapata directs the Maternal and Child Health Department at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health. She manages the state’s Maternal and Child Health Title V award and the Family Planning Title X Program. She oversees and directs supportive services, health education and communications, training and policy development.
Zapata serves as an appointed member of Governor Bobby Jindal’s Early Childhood Advisory Council along with performing on behavioral health planning and domestic violence commissions. Prior to her current role, Zapata was the surveillance program manager of the HIV/AIDS program, where she managed a department responsible for statewide HIV monitoring including case and data management. She worked on special projects in local and national workgroups to develop surveillance policies and protocols.
Zapata received her Master of Public Health from SPH concentrating in social and behavioral science with a focus on health promotion and disease prevention. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Mount Holyoke College.
An archive of all our past recipients and be found in the Alumni section of our site.