2026: SPH Year End Honors and Awards
Chancellor’s Student Service Awards
Since 1973, the Chancellor’s Student Service and Leadership Awards (CSSLA) ceremony has recognized outstanding student leaders and student volunteers who, while maintaining high academic achievement, demonstrate a commitment to the UIC community through participation in student organizations and campus activities and throughout the greater Chicagoland area through active service and community engagement.
- Ella Dixon
- Stephanie Suarez Gonzalez
- Linu Rajwani
- Sumedha Sethi (*also received UIC Volunteer Service Award)
- Xinyi “Olivia” Shen
- Jackie Trachtenberg
- Fatema Tuz Zohora
UIC Silver Circle Award for Teaching Excellence
The Silver Circle Awards have been given each year since 1966 to honor UIC faculty members chosen by the Senior class for their excellence in teaching undergraduate courses. Winners are honored at their college commencements and their names join a long list of distinguished colleagues. But what makes the award especially meaningful is its selection committee — graduating seniors.
Bernard H. Baum Golden Apple Award
The Bernard H. Baum Golden Apple Award is presented each year to a faculty member in recognition of outstanding graduate level teaching and unusual service to students at the school. The recipient is chosen by the student body.
Community Health Sciences Faculty Advisor of the Year
Dr. Ben Shaw has shown excellence, commitment, and dedication in support of his advisees, has built strong relationships with and is dedicated to supporting his students, and emphasizes personalized advising. The nominator for Dr. Shaw shared that he “takes the time to genuinely listen to my evolving research interests and consistently shares new information, opportunities, and emerging research that align closely with my research interests and career goals.” Additionally, they shared that Dr. Shaw’s advising style “reflects a true investment into student success” and that his support “significantly shaped my development as a researcher.”
Community Health Sciences Peer Support Awards
PhD Student Peer Support Award Recipient: Zoë Harris
MPH Student Peer Support Award Recipient: Destiny Strange
Both Zoë Harris and Destiny Strange have shown excellence, commitment, and dedication in support of their peers. They have built strong relationships with and are devoted to supporting their fellow students, and demonstrate initiative to interact with their peers to develop a strong academic/professional network.
One nominator for Zoë shared that “she has provided support to peer teaching assistants, offering empathic leadership in terms of managing challenging classroom dynamics and difficult conversations.” Kayla Moore, another nominator, shared that she “rejoiced each year that we were fatefully matched as mentor and mentee” and that Zoë “gave me great advice about taking time to center my wellness… and very importantly, treated me to tacos… Zoë is one of the people whom I am most glad to have met in SPH.”
Frankie Granata, the nominator for Destiny, shared that “from our very first meeting onward, Destiny has gone far beyond the MPH Mate Program’s expectations to provide immense educational, professional, social, and emotional support to not only myself, but also to her other MPH Second Mate.” They also shared that “Destiny truly embodies every trait of a mentor that genuinely cares for & supports their mentees, setting a high standard that other mentors should aspire to achieve.”
Alan W. Donaldson Award
This award honors one graduating student for significant academic excellence, qualities of leadership, and community service. It is the most prestigious award granted by the UIC School of Public Health and is a memorial to Alan W. Donaldson, ScD, a founding father of the School and its first Associate Dean.
Public Health Promise Award
The Public Health Promise Award is given annually to an outstanding graduating baccalaureate student or group of students who is/are deemed by faculty and peers to show the greatest potential for future contributions to public health as demonstrated by academic performance, community engagement, and leadership. This year, SPH celebrates Taher Sultan Ghouri.
Douglas Passaro Global Horizon Scholars
The Douglas Passaro Global Horizons Scholarship assists graduate students in the School of Public Health with travel expenses associated with an international field experience (applied practice experience, thesis research, etc.).
This award honors the memory of Dr. Douglas James Passaro, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Illinois Chicago and Attending Physician in Infectious Diseases at the UIC Hospital from 2001 to 2005. The award reflects his devotion to international health, from his work in Africa during his service in the Peace Corps to his continued work in Latin America while at UIC. The fund is intended to provide support to graduate students for health-related, hands-on applied practice experiences to carry on Dr. Passaro’s work promoting global health, a passion that was interrupted by his untimely death at age 43.
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Alex Albuixech-Robinson – Alex will conduct his global applied practice experience in the Philippines, beginning in Manila with an introduction to the country’s healthcare system through lectures, site visits, and engagement with local healthcare professionals. The program then transitions to a remote island setting, where Alex will work alongside municipal health officers, nurses, and midwives in rural health units and community health stations, gaining firsthand exposure to healthcare delivery in underserved regions with limited resources. Through this experience, Alex will develop a deeper understanding of the social and structural determinants of health, as well as the innovative strategies used to provide care in low-resource environments. The program concludes in Manila with reflection and evaluation to integrate these experiences into future academic and professional goals, in partnership with Child Family Health International (CFHI).
Kate Klein – Kate will conduct a global health field experience in Oyo State, Nigeria, in partnership with the University of Ibadan, to support her doctoral dissertation research on a cervical cancer screen-and-treat mobile clinic intervention in Kajola and Ibadan North. Through this project, she will apply implementation science methods to examine barriers, facilitators, and outcomes influencing women’s engagement in cervical cancer prevention services. Kate will collaborate with local faculty and research staff to administer surveys, conduct key informant interviews, and carry out community-based qualitative research with women and community leaders, while also observing program implementation and service delivery. This experience will strengthen her skills in community-engaged research, cross-cultural data collection, and health systems analysis, contributing to her long-term goal of advancing equitable cancer prevention strategies in low-resource setting.
William Mercer – William will conduct a global applied practice experience in Morocco, primarily based in Rabat, where he will collaborate with local partners at major healthcare institutions. Working closely with local collaborators and maintaining mentorship with Dr. El Bissati, William’s project will focus on congenital toxoplasmosis, a neglected tropical disease, with the goal of understanding its global impact and informing future interventions in other high-burden regions such as Latin America. During this time, he will engage with diverse clinical teams—including pediatricians, neuro-pediatricians, ophthalmologists, and specialists in prenatal and neonatal care—gaining exposure to multidisciplinary approaches to care. Additional site visits in other regions of the country will further broaden his understanding of healthcare delivery across varied settings. This experience was made possible through a connection established by a previous Douglas Passaro Global Horizons Scholarship recipient who worked on the same project last year.
Nykia Rutledge – Nykia will conduct her global applied practice experience in partnership with the Mind Bridge Learning Center in Accra, Ghana. During this experience, she will support a needs assessment focused on caregivers of children with neurodivergent conditions, particularly autism spectrum disorder (ASD), by collecting and analyzing qualitative data on their lived experiences. Nykia will also contribute to the development of a practical toolkit to support early detection and intervention planning and will co-facilitate a training session for educators on identifying and supporting children with neurodivergent needs. This experience will strengthen her skills in community-engaged research, culturally responsive public health practice, and global collaboration, while deepening her commitment to advancing health equity among marginalized populations and the Black diaspora.
Donna Farley Global Health Scholarship
The Donna Farley Global Health Scholarship provides funding for graduate students who demonstrate a commitment to addressing global health issues and challenges. It is designed to help defray the travel costs associated with conducting an international applied practice experience, MS thesis research or doctoral research for those who demonstrate financial need. The scholarship will be awarded through a competitive process that is open to all students formally enrolled in the MPH, MS, or doctoral degree programs in the School of Public Health.
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John Lin is a seasoned global health practitioner with experience collaborating with Ministries of Health internationally. He is currently engaged in the humanitarian response in Ukraine with international non-governmental organizations. As part of his doctoral study, John is examining health system resilience during the ongoing war in Ukraine through the lens of the Humanitarian–Development–Peace (HDP) Nexus, focusing on perspectives from United Nations agencies and INGOs operating within the Health Cluster. Using a qualitative framework that integrates document analysis with 8 to 12 semi-structured interviews, his work aims to generate actionable recommendations to support these organizations as they strengthen health system resilience and navigate the evolving “Humanitarian Reset.”
Alumni Achievement Award
The highest honor bestowed by the University of Illinois Chicago Alumni Association, the Alumni Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose exceptional success and national or international recognition in their fields demonstrates the value of a UIC education across a lifetime. Recognized this year, UIC School of Public Health is proud to celebrate Dr. Javette Orgain, BS ’72, MD ’81, MPH ’05.
Award for Graduate Research
The Graduate College’s longest-running support for research by graduate students, the Award for Graduate Research funds three categories—research travel, summer research stipend, and materials/supplies—with competitions in the fall and spring. We are proud to announce two recipients from the School of Public Health: Kathleen Kristensen, PhD CHS & Kayla Moore, PhD CHS.
Delta Omega Inductees
The University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health houses the Lambda Chapter of Delta Omega. Each year, we induct outstanding students and faculty who have demonstrated a commitment to public health, leadership, and service. All applications (students) and nominations (faculty) are reviewed by faculty and/or emeriti faculty reviewers and are selected through a competitive process. Read more about Delta Omega at UIC here.
Students
- Opeyemi Adesioye
- Nwrah Amer
- Marie Yang-Ji Kim Aviles
- Alyah Barnes
- Jessica Boateng
- Rashida Monique Brown
- Katy Condon
- Layla Isabel Contreras
- Carolina Correa
- David Enrique Cruz
- Ella Leitman Dixon
- Angelica Glogowski
- Sarah Kerch
- Sanché Mabins
- Riya Mukerjee
- Jack Santiago
- Caesar Alden Thompson
- Jackie Trachtenberg
- Cenia Villasenor
- Fatema Tuz Zohora
- Jessica Garcia Palacios
- Charlene Cariou
- Lusi Martin-Braswell
- Barbara Juliette Mera
Faculty
- Meghan Mason
- Shannon Zenk
- Sanjib Basu
- Babatunde Olowokure