Second Recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Award for Health Equity
Presented by the Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus
Encino, California — The Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus (APIC) for Public Health is pleased to announce the recipient of the second annual Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) – Award for Health Equity presented by APIC. This seven-year awards program recognizes individuals or teams of two individuals who successfully implemented a systems-change approach to advance health equity within the past two years.
APIC awarded a $3,000 unrestricted prize to Rogene Gee Calvert, co-founder of the Asian American Health Coalition/Hope Clinic (a Federally Qualified Health Center), at the 2017 APIC Awards Ceremony during the 145 thAnnual American Public Health Association Meeting and Expo on November 6, 2017, in Atlanta, GA.
Rogene has worked in the non-profit field for over 30 years and has changed the landscape for Asian Americans in Houston and across the United States as an advocate and champion for improving the health and lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Over three decades she has improved access, income, health, education, housing and safety for AAPIs. She also has been actively involved in voting rights issues in the state, which has the third largest population of AAPIs in the US. She has mobilized AAPIs to become civic leaders and made it easier for those with limited English to vote by promoting access to voter registration and ballots in their language. Rogene has been a tireless advocate for health equity for AAPIs, the elderly and other underrepresented groups in Houston and the United States. In recognition of her work and impact, she was recently appointed to the State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission . of Civil Rights, which will study voting rights in Texas. As co-founder of the HOPE Clinic, she has helped it expand its operation so it could serve more people. It now serves more than 13,000 individuals in over 20 different languages. The Clinic also has been involved in promoting voter registration among eligible immigrants.
President of the Asian Chamber of Commerce, Rogene now serves as a principal for Outreach Strategists, LLC, a public affairs, political and strategic communications firm based in Houston, where she works on issues related to voter rights.
The prestigious Awards Committee included Daniel E. Dawes, JD, General Counsel and Senior Adviser to the Satcher Health Leadership Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, DJ Ida, PhD, inaugural awardee of the 2016 RWJF-APIC Award for Health Equity, and Carmen R. Nevarez, MD, MPH, Public Health Institute’s VP for External Relations and Preventive Medicine Advisor and Director of Center for Health Leadership and Practice. They considered criteria such as contributions toward achieving health equity and systems change approach to addressing health disparities, including outcomes, innovative approaches, transformational systems change, collaborative leadership, resourcefulness and impact and scalability.
The 2017 APIC Awards Ceremony took place on Monday, November 6, 2017 at 7-9PM EST, at the Coze Event Space, 255 Trinity Av. SW, Suite A, in Atlanta, GA. The event will featured keynote speaker, Dr. Matthew Lin, the new Director of Office of Minority Health and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Minority Health, and honored the 2017 Community Organization Recognition, Best Published Paper, and Best Student Abstract Awardees.