Weintraub selected for APHA’s Knutson Distinguished Service Award
November 13, 2018
Jane Weintraub, DDS, MPH, adjunct professor of health policy and management at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School, has been named winner of the 2018 John W. Knutson Distinguished Service Award in Dental Public Health by the Oral Health Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA). Weintraub was recognized at the APHA’s annual meeting and exposition in San Diego on Nov. 12.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award and filled with gratitude to all who have mentored me and shared this journey,” said Weintraub. “Reducing oral health disparities, preventing disease and improving the public’s health are still urgent societal needs, so the work must continue.”
Weintraub is well known for her extensive service in public health research and community engagement, particularly in the area of preventing early childhood caries. Her research has led to widespread incorporation of preventive services into clinical practice.
This year, she also received the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) Distinguished Service Award, one of only three people in the organization’s history to receive three of the major AAPHD awards.
The John W. Knutson Distinguished Service Award in Dental Public Health has been presented each year since 1982 to honor an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to improve oral health in the United States. Its recipients have demonstrated sustained and exemplary accomplishments in the field of dental public health.
Established in 1943, the APHA’s Oral Health Section promotes the importance of oral health, aims to increase access to oral health preventive and treatment services, and monitors and disseminates information about the oral health needs of the public.
Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.