Past Vilcek-Gold Award Recipients

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. Dr. Fouad 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 announcing her award, plus an article about her presentation at the AAMC Learn Serve Lead conference.

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. Studies have repeatedly shown that healthcare with diverse clinicians and an environment of respect and compassion leads to better outcomes.

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. Both are also frequent speakers and commenters on immigration policy in the United States. Dr. Rojas Marquez provided testimony at a 2017 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Dr. Latthivongskorn was a plaintiff in the case that brought DACA before the Supreme Court of the United States in 2019, Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California.

Read the news release.

Read a profile of Dr. Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn.

Read a profile of Dr. Denisse Rojas Marquez.

In this special recorded presentation hosted by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the Vilcek Foundation, and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, Drs. Latthivongskorn and Rojas Marquez share inspiring stories of diversity, equity, inclusion, activism, and social justice.

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.

“Dr. Vivek Murthy famously said, ‘The world is locked in a struggle between love and fear. Choose love. Always,’” said Dr. Richard I. Levin, Gold Foundation President and CEO. “Such is a rallying cry now for doctors and nurses and all those on the front lines in the COVID-19 crisis, as they show us what love looks like over and over. Dr. Murthy understands deeply the importance of humanism, the importance of love, in guiding our actions and our world.”

Read the news release and this special piece: Dr. Vivek Murthy: The power of human connection.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician and founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, is an immigrant born in the United Kingdom to parents of Iraqi descent. She drew nationwide attention to the widespread lead-poisoning of children in Flint, Michigan, through the public water supply as a whistleblower.

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.

She received the inaugural 2019 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare not only for this monumental work, but also for her continued activities as the director of the Michigan State University Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, serving as a champion for underprivileged kids worldwide.