THE LEGACY OF
LOUIS W. SULLIVAN, MD
President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine
United States Health & Human Services Secretary to President George HW Bush (1989-1993)
Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., is chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Sullivan Alliance to Transform the Health Professions. In January 2020, in order to further increase diversity and transform health professions’ education and health delivery systems, the Board of the Sullivan Alliance voted to become a central program of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). In 2022, the AAHC merged into the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
He served as chair of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities from 2002-2009 and was co-chair of the President’s Commission on HIV and AIDS from 2001-2006. With the exception of his tenure as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Dr. Sullivan was president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) — the only predominantly Black medical school in the U.S. established in the 20th Century — for more than two decades. On July 1, 2002, he retired and was appointed president emeritus. READ MORE
Statement on planned Trump nomination of RFK, Jr. as HHS Secretary
Statement on planned Trump nomination of RFK, Jr. as HHS secretary
The announcement by President-elect Trump of his plan to nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to serve as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services is very alarming. It poses a threat to the health of Americans and our nation’s health care system. Mr. Kennedy has no training in the sciences or in medicine. He is not qualified to lead this agency.
Most alarming is Mr. Kennedy’s position opposing the use of vaccines and oral fluoride. The use of vaccines has led to the eradication of smallpox from the world. We are close to eliminating poliomyelitis. The use of fluoride has dramatically reduced dental caries and improved oral health in America.
Life expectancy improved in the United States from a mean of 47 years in 1900 to almost 80 years today. Treatment of many diseases, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and others has improved remarkably. We cannot abandon these diagnostic and therapeutic gains in our capacity to prevent, treat and cure many diseases.
We must strengthen our public health system so we can continue our capacity to serve Americans. I urge our Senate to not confirm Mr. Kennedy for the position of secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We must work together as Americans and continue to improve the health of all our citizens.”
Louis W. Sullivan, M.D.
17th Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1989-1993)
Announcing the 2024 AAMC Award Honorees – Celebrate with Us on Oct. 30!
Saturday, August 24, 2024 | Washington Park | Oak Bluffs, MA
Congratulations to the 2024 AAMC Award honorees!
Celebrate with us at our Virtual Recognition Event.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
4:00-5:15 p.m. ET
This is a virtual event.
The event is free to attend, but registration is required.Register Now
The AAMC is excited to host its fourth annual virtual AAMC Awards Recognition Event. Join us as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of colleagues and institutions across academic medicine!
Why Attend?
- Spotlight on Honorees: Hear the inspiring stories and accomplishments of this year’s award recipients.
- Connect: Experience a unique opportunity to engage with honorees and attendees from the comfort of your home or office.
- Be Entertained: Enjoy musical entertainment from the Morehouse College Glee Club.
Join us to celebrate this year’s honorees and read more about them:
Award for Excellence in Medical Education
Louis Pangaro, MD, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine
Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences
Garret FitzGerald, MD, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation David E. Rogers Award
Lisa I. lezzoni, MD, MSc, Harvard Medical School and the Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital
Herbert W. Nickens Award
Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Morehouse School of Medicine
Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award
Caroline N. Harada, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine
Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award
Lily Belfi, MD, Weill Cornell Medicine
Daniel Clinchot, MD, The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Abbas Hyderi, MD, MPH, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, formerly Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine
Kent Vrana, PhD, Penn State College of Medicine
Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and UChicago Medicine
Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Award
Will Ross, MD, MPH, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Special Recognition Award
Richard I. Levin, MD, Arnold P. Gold Foundation
William W. Pinsky, MD, Intealth
Sullivan 5K Run
Saturday, August 24, 2024 | Washington Park | Oak Bluffs, MA
Founded in 1989 by Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1989-1993, the Sullivan Run/Walk for Health and Fitness is a great end-of-summer event for the whole family.
Racers of all ages compete on the US Track and Field Association certified 5K course around East Chop Bluff with a spectacular view of Nantucket Sound. We wanted to let you know that we heard your feedback last year and plan to start the runners at 9 am with walkers beginning right behind them. Kids 10 and under can participate in the Kids Dash.
Commemorative T-shirts will be distributed to the first 300 registered race participants. Strollers and well-behaved leashed animals are permitted; however, we ask that they remain at the “back of the pack” and practice extreme caution during the race.
So, lace up your sneakers and please join us in August! MORE INFO
Morehouse medical school founder, UPS CEO named Georgia Trustees
Dr. Louis Sullivan and Carol Tome become latest Georgians to earn state’s highest honor at gala in Savannah
SAVANNAH — Growing up in Blakely in the wake of the Great Depression, Louis Sullivan came to understand the imperfections of his home state.
His father had moved the family to the town in rural southwest Georgia to open the area’s first Black-owned funeral home and set up a branch of the NAACP. The elder Sullivan’s activism alienated the white establishment and meant Louis’ mother, who held a master’s degree in education, couldn’t get a job. READ MORE
WE'LL FIGHT IT OUT HERE
A History of the Ongoing Struggle for Health Equity
How a coalition of Black health professions schools made health equity a national issue.
Winner of the Phillis Wheatley Award by the Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage
Racism in the US health care system has been deliberately undermining Black health care professionals and exacerbating health disparities among Black Americans for centuries. These health disparities only became a mainstream issue on the agenda of US health leaders and policy makers because a group of health professions schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities banded together to fight for health equity. We’ll Fight It Out Here tells the story of how the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools (AMHPS) was founded by this coalition and the hard-won influence it built in American politics and health care. David Chanoff and Louis W. Sullivan, former secretary of health & human services, detail how the struggle for equity has been fought in the field of health care, where bias and disparities continue to be volatile national issues.
Chanoff and Sullivan outline the history of Black health care, from pre-Emancipation to today, centering on the work of AMHPS, which brought to light health care inequities in 1983 and precipitated virtually all minority health care legislation since then. Based on extensive research in the literature, as well as more than seventy interviews with the people central to this fight for legislative and policy change, We’ll Fight It Out Here is the important story of a vital coalition movement, virtually unknown until now, that changed the national understanding of health inequities.
The work of this coalition of Black health schools continues, both in supporting the training of more doctors and health professionals from minority backgrounds and in advancing issues related to health equity. By highlighting these endeavors, We’ll Fight It Out Here brings attention to a pivotal group in the history of the health equity movement and provides a road map of practical mechanisms that can be used to advance it.
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