The Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare was created to honor foreign-born individuals who have had an extraordinary impact on humanism in healthcare in the United States. The honor, which was presented from 2019 to 2023, drew hundreds of nominations of impressive and inspirational leaders. The joint program was the first award related to humanism in healthcare from the Vilcek Foundation and the first immigrant-designated award from the Gold Foundation. Vilcek-Gold Award recipients were honored at Learn Serve Lead, the annual conference of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), where they presented a lecture based on their work and experiences related to humanism in healthcare.
Awardees included:
2023 Vilcek-Gold Award recipient
Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare honoree
Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi received the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for her leadership in the development of a patent-free open-source vaccine for COVID-19, and for her career-long work to support healthcare education and access in vulnerable populations globally. Born in Italy and raised in Honduras, she was inspired by her family’s entrepreneurial and diplomatic spirit, which she credits as having a profound impact on her character and career.
2022 Vilcek-Gold Award recipient
Dr. Mona Fouad, 2022 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare honoree
Dr. Mona Fouad received the 2022 Vilcek-Gold Award for her leadership in health disparities research and for her career-long commitment to equity in healthcare. She is the Founding Director of the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) Minority Health and Health Disparity Research Center; Senior Associate Dean for diversity and inclusion in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine; and Professor and Director of the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine. Her work has been foundational to the development of rigorous research and interventions to make healthcare more accessible and equitable to historically underserved populations in the United States.
Read the news release, plus an article about her presentation at the AAMC Learn Serve Lead conference.
2021 Vilcek-Gold Award recipients
Left to right, Drs. Denisse Rojas Marquez and Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn, 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare honorees
Drs. Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn and Denisse Rojas Marquez received the 2021 Vilcek-Gold Award for their leadership in advocating for diverse and inclusive healthcare with a supportive path to the profession accessible to immigrants..Drs. Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez, along with Angel Ku, established Pre-Health Dreamers (PHDreamers), a collective organization that provides information and resources to young immigrants who want to pursue higher education and careers in healthcare.
Read the news release.
2020 Vilcek-Gold Award recipient
Dr. Vivek Murthy, 2020 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare honoree
Dr. Vivek Murthy is the 19th Surgeon General of the United States. He is an immigrant born in the United Kingdom to parents of Indian descent, who emigrated to the United States by way of Nova Scotia. He received the 2020 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare for his multi-faceted approach to addressing the opioid crisis in the United States, and for his continued advocacy and support of human- and community-centered care.
Read the news release and this special piece: Dr. Vivek Murthy: The power of human connection.
2019 Vilcek-Gold recipient
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha [photo courtesy of MSU Division of Public Health, College of Human Medicine, March 2017]
Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s public health activism arose from a deep wellspring of humanism – an ideal that puts human interests, values and dignity at the core of healthcare. The Vilcek and Gold foundations sought to honor the impact of humanism and compassion in medicine while spotlighting immigrant leaders in American healthcare when they joined forces to create the award.
Read more in the news release and in this special piece: A choiceless choice: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha on standing up and speaking out.