Mona Fouad, MD, MPH, winner of the 2022 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare, recognized for her contributions to health equity research

In Birmingham, like in the town outside of Alexandria, Egypt, Fouad recognized that social issues contributed to poor health outcomes in underserved communities, an idea that was not widely accepted at the time. Many fellow physicians and researchers told her that health disparities work was not really contributing to medical science, and that it was only “feel-good community work.” “Even hearing these things, I persisted,” she said.