Cheryl Sbarra Receives Gail Douglas Award.
On Saturday, November 4th, Associate Dean Harold Cox presented Cheryl Sbarra with the Gail Douglas Award.
In June 2006, Boston University School of Public Health established an award for excellence in public health practice to acknowledge an outstanding member of the public health practice community. The first recipient was Gail Douglas, an honor she received on the eve of her retirement.
Gail was retiring as both the Associate Dean of Students and the Acting Associate Dean of Practice. It is indeed fitting that the Practice Award is named in her honor. Following a successful and meaningful career as a clinical nurse and nursing administrator, Gail was a teacher, mentor, and administrator at the School of Public Health. But, through it all, she was a practitioner at heart. We in the School of Public Health work to educate and train the future public health workforce. We do that best by involving practitioners in every aspect of our work – in teaching, research, and service. The Douglas Award, therefore, honors a practitioner in our community whose work contributes both to the health of the public and to the mission of our school.
Gail recognized that public health is largely a team sport, best done by people who share the mission of working to improve the systems in a community to provide the conditions by which people can be healthy. Over the years, it has been our honor to bestow the Gail Douglas Award on ten individuals or groups who have shared and contributed to that mission in their own work and with the School. Previous individuals include notable practitioners from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston Public Health Commission, AIDS Action Committee, Boston Medical Center, and last year, two individuals from the Boston Housing Authority. That award, presented to people from an agency not traditionally thought of as “public health-y,” allowed us to recognize the importance of creating a housing environment that promotes the health of residents, especially those who are most vulnerable and at risk. And it recognizes the fact that that work is not done just by Public Health organizations, but by us working together with other individuals and groups who share concerns for healthy communities.
This year, we present our award to Cheryl Sbarra, the Senior Staff Attorney for the Mass. Association of Health Boards. This choice allowed us to recognize the outstanding work that she has done not only with us at BU, but also on behalf of MAHB, whose members contribute to the frontline work of providing the conditions by which people can be healthy.
On behalf of the Activist Lab at BUSPH, the students, staff, and faculty across the School, and the many public health practitioners we aim to serve, we thank you, Cheryl. It is our great honor to have selected you as the 2017 recipient of the Gail Douglas Award.