This fall, MSU’s own Flint water whistleblower Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was awarded the 2020 Fries Prize for Improving Public Health, in recognition of her tireless work on behalf of a community whose collective health was impacted by the Flint Water Crisis.
Hanna-Attisha has chosen to donate her prize money from the award—$60,000—directly to Flint recovery efforts via the MSU-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative. The initiative, of which Hanna-Attisha is both founder and director, is addressing the effects of lead poisoning on the children of Flint through community and clinical programs, childhood health policy and advocacy, and evaluation.
Among other things, the prize money will help support a Pediatric Public Health Fellowship, to train a new generation of pediatricians in public health. The first Pediatric Public Health Fellow will join the team in 2021.
“I’m so honored and humbled to be the 2020 recipient of the Fries Prize,” Hanna-Attisha said in a statement to news media in October. “It’s not as much about my work in Flint, but more about the national level impact we have had to improve the lives of all children—from drinking water safety to child health protection to racial equity efforts.”
LEARN MORE about the work of Dr. Mona and the various recovery efforts in Flint.