For the past year, faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the Boston University School of Public Health have been celebrating the school’s 40th anniversary. A symposia series and dozens of receptions and dinners in 15 states and 13 countries were attended by more than 2,000 people. The yearlong celebration culminated with last Thursday’s 40th Anniversary Gala, a gathering of more than 300 community members, public health leaders, and friends of SPH at the State Room in downtown Boston.
Beyond Health Awards, one of the highest honors given by SPH, were presented to Janice L. Cooper, project lead for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program in Liberia, and Larry Kessler, founding director of the Massachusetts AIDS Action Committee. Both received standing ovations.
Jeannine Rivet (SPH’81), a Dean’s Advisory Board member 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 SPH and BU. The society honors living individuals and families who have made gifts of $1 million or more to the University.
The celebration included a performance by Danza Orgánica, a social justice–oriented dance theater company based in Roxbury. The dancers performed part of Running in Stillness, a soon-to-premiere piece that confronts the effects of mass incarceration.
Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented to Kathryn Brinsfeld (SPH’01), assistant secretary and chief medical officer of the US Department of Homeland Security; Mark A. Keroack (SPH’00), president and CEO of Baystate Health; and Hania Dawani (SON’81,’89, SPH’86), mental health and nursing consultant, faculty in health sciences, at Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates and a California State University, Northridge, associate professor.
The gala was a celebration of “progress towards a healthier world,” Galea said.
Michelle Samuels can be reached at msamu@bu.edu.