PURPOSE: The RWJF Award for Health Equity presented by the Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus (APIC) For Public Health (RWJF-APIC Award) is a seven-year program to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions toward achieving health equity.
AWARD: APIC will award an unrestricted cash prize of $3,000 to the annual award recipient(s). The award will be presented at the APIC Awards Ceremony during the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2021 Annual Meeting & Expo, October 2021.
WINNER
Congratulations to Dr. Joyce R. Javier, MD, MPH, MS, FAAP for receiving the 2021 RWJF-APIC Award!
JUDGES
We are honored to have three prominent public health leaders judge the 2021 RWJF-APIC Award. This Award will recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions toward achieving health equity.
Edward Tepporn is the Executive Director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, the primary nonprofit organization working in partnership with CA State Parks to preserve the buildings at the former US Immigration Station at Angel Island and to uplift its histories and stories. He has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He previously served on staff at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) for nearly 16 years, most recently leading the organization’s Chief Strategy Office as APIAHF’s Executive Vice President. Edward received a B.A. in Biology and Psychology from Washington University. He was also a Nelson Mandela Scholarship recipient in the M.S.W. program at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. He is a certified professional leadership coach. In 2019, Edward was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Equity. He is also currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Fellow.
Karen Moss, PhD, RN, CNL is a registered nurse and assistant professor in the Center for Healthy Aging, Self-Management, and Complex Care in the College of Nursing with joint appointment in the Center for Health Outcomes in Medicine, Scholarship and Service in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University. Dr. Moss’ research program focuses on advance care planning and the neuroscience of pain for older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, with special emphasis on family caregivers and Blacks/African Americans. Specifically, she examines factors that influence pain and advance care planning for Black/African American older adults living with dementia and their family caregivers. Dr. Moss is determining racial similarities and differences in pain perceptions among Blacks and Whites living with Alzheimer’s disease using psychophysics and neuroimaging (fMRI). She also studies pain and stress in older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease and their family caregivers, using hair cortisol as a measure of stress. The overarching goal of Dr. Moss’ research program is to develop a feasible and acceptable-to-the-population, nurse-led, culturally tailored pain, and advance care planning decision-making intervention to improve end-of-life care that leads to improvements in overall quality-of-life outcomes.
Cathy Vue, MPH is a Hmong daughter, wife, and mother; a public health professional; a lover of food-experiences; and most importantly, a community connector. She is currently in Seattle, Washington as the Health and Wellness Program Manager at the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance. Her portfolio includes the Refugee Health Screening, Refugee Health Promotion, and Services for Older Refugees Programs. Prior to Washington, Cathy lived in Ohio and worked at a small local non-profit (Asian Services in Action, Inc.) addressing health disparities through policies, systems, and environmental strategies that impact refugee and immigrant communities. One of Cathy’s proudest moments was in 2014 when she was recognized by President Obama at the White House as a Champion of Change for her contributions to the Affordable Care Act. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the Northwest Ohio Consortium of Public Health. Cathy enjoys Hmong line dancing, experimenting with new recipes from YouTube, and exploring the beautiful state of Washington with her family.
The judges will evaluate applications based on the following criteria:
- Nominee’s work shows alignment with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s vision for building a Culture of Health and achieving health equity.
- Nominee’s work demonstrated success to change systems that impact health outcomes in one or more of the following areas: access to quality care, education, employment, income, community environment, housing, and public safety.
- Nominee’s work provided a solution to improve outcomes for groups most affected by health disparities.
- Nominee successfully implemented a systems change approach to reduce health disparities within the past two years.
- The degree to which nominee’s work reflects: outcome(s), innovative approaches, transformational systems change, collaborative leadership, resourcefulness, impact, and scalability.