Washington, D.C., November 7, 2004
- Christopher Lee Day, MPH, received the American Public Health Association's 2004 Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award for young professionals today during APHA's 132nd Annual Meeting.
The award recognizes a health worker or student, age 30 or younger, who has demonstrated potential in the health field by challenging traditional public health policy or practice in a creative and positive manner.
Day works as an associate for public systems improvement at the Public Health Foundation in Washington, D.C. At the foundation, he has helped lead the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, a group made up of 17 diverse national academic and practice organizations. He has become a national expert on competencies and teaches and shares examples of their use around the country.
On his own time, Day established the Student Health Alliance, a group comprised of 13 national student organizations in health and health-related professions that collectively represent more than 200,000 student members. The alliance is working to build bridges across professions and advances cross-disciplinary learning and practice.
Day led an effort to develop a nationwide learning management system when he realized states were struggling to build their own systems. The nationwide system now links 22 states and provides free access to learning resources for public health professionals around the world.
Before working at the Public Health Foundation, Day's other public health posts included work with the Kentucky's health department, where he developed a statewide plan to prevent an influenza outbreak.
Day has served on the Healthy People 2010 Curriculum Task Force, the National Primary Care Week Advisory Committee and as the founder and former president of the Kentucky Student Public Health Association. He was the youngest member of the APHA Executive Board in the association's history and has served APHA as a member of the Education Board, the Taskforce on Association Improvement and Reorganization (NEEDS COMMA) the Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award Nominations Committee and as president of the Public Health Student Caucus.