2024 Teaching Awards

The following three award recipients are based on nominations from students and voting open to all UTHealth Houston School of Public Health students.  

2024 John P. McGovern Award for Outstanding Teaching: Heather T. Essigmann, PhD, MPH 

2024 James Emerson Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant: Morgan Jibowu, MPH 

2024 Award for Excellence in Academic Advising: Christine Markham, PhD 

“It's hard to put into words what an incredible honor it is to be selected by our students for the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teaching Award. This award is particularly special to me as an alumna of the school because so much of what I do in the classroom was inspired by the incredible teaching of the SPH faculty in whose classrooms I had the privilege to learn and grow and who continue to inspire me now as colleagues. Even though I'm now on 'the other side of the classroom' as the professor, teaching has, undoubtedly, been the greatest learning experience of my academic life, and I'm grateful every day for the opportunity to continue learning from my students and to share in their unique journeys to become public health leaders and innovators!” - Heather T. Essigmann, PhD, MPH 

Congratulations to the Recipients of the 2024 Faculty Awards  

The Faculty Council - Faculty Awards Committee would like to congratulate the 2024 UTHealth Houston School of Public Health faculty award winners. They have each exemplified excellence in their respective award categories. Each awardee will receive $1,000 in discretionary operating funds and be recognized at the May 17, 2024, Spring General Faculty Meeting.   

Award for Excellence in Teaching  

Baojiang Chen, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Austin

Aubree Shay, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, San Antonio

Award for Excellence in Community Service  

Steven H. Kelder, PhD, MPH, Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Austin 

Brett Perkison, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Houston

Research Mentor-Mentee Award   

Sarah E. Messiah, PhD, MPH, Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Dallas 

Alejandra Fernandez, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, Dallas 

Congratulations to the Recipients of the 2024 Outstanding Staff Member Awards 

The Faculty Council, Faculty Awards Committee would like to congratulate the 2024 UTHealth Houston School of Public Health Outstanding Staff Member Award winners. Nominations were accepted from faculty and supervisors of staff, and the Faculty Awards Committee selected finalists voted on by all school of public health staff. Each awardee will receive a $1,000 award in recognition of their outstanding contributions.   

Maria Saenz, SPH - Department/Center Administrator, Department of Management, Policy and Community Health 

Rikki Ward, MPH, Senior Program Manager, Dallas 

Tiffni Menendez, MPH, Associate Director, Development and Business Operations, Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin 

Visit the Faculty Awards folder on the school intranet to see all past recipients and more information (Internal).