Two Recipients Selected for First Equity and Diversity Award
Madison, Wisconsin - Gina Green-Harris and Jill Boissonault have been selected as the first recipients of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Faculty and Staff Equity and Diversity Awards.
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Green-Harris is an outreach specialist for the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute and Center for Urban Population Health in Milwaukee.
Boissonault is a physical therapist and faculty member in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation and the physical-therapy program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
The awards, new this year, are meant to recognize those who promote equity and diversity in pursuit of the school’s missions to train clinicians and scholars to understand the needs of diverse individuals and groups; to study ethnic and racial disparities in health care; and to maintain an open, inclusive and respectful environment.
Green-Harris’ nominator, Dr. Mark Sager, director of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute, indicated that he hired her in 2008 to “develop and lead a minority recruitment initiative for Alzheimer’s disease prevention research.” Green-Harris was able to overcome several barriers to African-American subjects’ participation in such research; this is what enabled her to stand out in the nominating committee’s view.
In describing the effort, Green-Harris said, “We established a strong outreach and education program by embedding ourselves in the community and using residents to help us access the community.”
Green-Harris has emerged as a leader in
Boissonnault’s nominator, Lisa Steinkamp, director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program (DPT), indicates that Boissonnault “wrote the curriculum for the DPT program seminars, making certain that issues of culture and diversity were woven into the curriculum each semester.”
She also developed the Service Learning course in the DPT program, partnering with not-for-profit organizations in
The awards will be presented at a celebration at each awardee’s workplace in February of 2013.
Date Published: 01/25/2013
