Hundreds Celebrate at SPH 40th Anniversary Gala.

More than 300 community members, public health leaders, and friends of the School of Public Health gathered on November 17 at the State Room for the School’s 40th Anniversary Gala.

“There’s no place where the missions of research, impact, and education come together as well as in the School of Public Health,” said Boston University President Robert Brown. “It really is the jewel in the crown of the University.”

The gala marked the culmination of a celebration year in which SPH held 45 receptions and dinners in 15 US states and 13 countries, attended by more than 2,000 alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, and friends.

“We have emerged as a leading voice around a range of issues crucial to the health of the public,” said Dean Sandro Galea. Pointing to issues like gun violence, racial disparities in health, and barriers to reproductive care, he added that “we are here tonight because we agree that these conditions are unacceptable.”

Brown said the theme of the 40th anniversary year, “Four Decades Forward,” perfectly matched the School’s best qualities: “A tradition of working in health and social justice to improve the health of local, national, and international populations, particularly the disadvantaged and underserved. There’s no more important work.”

Joel Lamstein, chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board and president and co-founder of John Snow, Inc., said the School is poised to take on an ever-greater role in that future. “This is an important time for public health,” he said. “There is a demographic change, there is a technology change, and of course there’s a political change. It requires all of us to work hard to continue this effort.”

One of the highest honors given by SPH, the Beyond Health Award, was presented to Janice L. Cooper, project lead for the Carter Center Liberia Mental Health Program, and Larry Kessler, founding director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. Both received standing ovations.

“I stand to thank you on behalf of my team in Liberia” and the Carter Center, Cooper said. “I look forward to continued healing for Liberia, and to continue to get my energy from the healers and the mental health services that are working in my country and with whom I am privileged to work. It is really a great honor to accept this award on their behalf.”

Jeannine Rivet (‘81), a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board and executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, echoed that sentiment as she and her husband Warren Herreid II were inducted into the William Fairfield Warren Society for their decades of support for the School and University.

“I thank the School for what it did for me, I thank the School for what it continues to do for many people all over the world, and I look forward to the next 40 years to see what will come—in accomplishments, successes, and impact to healthcare in society,” she said.

The celebration included a performance by Danza Orgánica, a social justice-oriented dance theater company based in Roxbury. They performed part of a soon-to-premier piece, Running in Stillness, which confronts the effects of mass incarceration.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented to Kathryn Brinsfeld (’01), assistant secretary and chief medical officer for the US Department of Homeland Security; Mark A. Keroack (‘00), president and CEO of Baystate Health; and Hania Dawani (‘86), mental health and nursing consultant, faculty in health sciences at Higher Colleges of Technology, and adjunct professor at California State University, Northridge.

The gala was ultimately a celebration of “progress towards a healthier world,” Galea said. “We are just getting started.”

—Michelle Samuels