Lifetime Achievement Award named in honor of late UCLA Fielding School professor, Dr. Steve Wallace
The American Public Health Association posthumously honored Dr. Steve Wallace by re-naming a lifetime achievement award for him.
The American Public Health Association posthumously honored Dr. Steve Wallace, a longtime UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of community health sciences, by re-naming a lifetime achievement award for him.
The decision was made after discussions at the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2021 Annual Meeting in October, said Dr. Annie L. Nguyen, chair of the APHA Aging and Public Health Section. Fittingly, Wallace was the 2018 recipient of the same honor that will now be named after him, the section’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Nguyen said.
"When we learned of his passing, we felt compelled to honor Steve’s legacy in a way that matched the magnitude of his impact on our section and the field of aging,” Nguyen said. “As chair of the section, I am heartened to know that Steve will always be a part of our section in this way and that we get to remember our friend every time we give out this award. “
Wallace, who passed away in March, worked closely with Dr. Ninez Ponce, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management and director of the Fielding School’s UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, where Wallace served as associate director for 25 years. His work at the center including pioneering new approaches to the economic security of older adults through the California Elder Economic Security Standard Index; Wallace also served as director of the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) National Coordinating Center, she said.
“We are so grateful to the APHA Aging and Public Health Section for renaming the lifetime achievement award in Steve Wallace’s honor,” Ponce said. “Steve Wallace was a trailblazer, who fought tirelessly for older adults and communities of color … Steve was a remarkable person, who made a difference in the lives of so many people, and his legacy will live on through all of us.”
The decision to re-name the APHA honor the “Steven P. Wallace Lifetime Achievement Award” was initially discussed and approved by 15 past chairs of the section, and then approved unanimously by the current leadership, Nguyen said. Wallace had joined the section more than 30 years ago, and was not only a long-time member but a dedicated leader who held multiple continuous roles over the years, including service as past-chair, section councilor, treasurer, and development lead, and served and lead numerous committees.
Wallace, who earned his doctorate at the University of California, San Francisco, joined UCLA in 1990 as an assistant professor in the school of public health. Wallace also was the principal investigator of the research on immigrant health and state policy study, known as RIGHTS, funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, founded in 1961, is dedicated to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals from diverse backgrounds, translating research into policy and practice, and serving our local communities and the communities of the nation and the world. The school has 761 students from 26 nations engaged in carrying out the vision of building healthy futures in greater Los Angeles, California, the nation and the world.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
Assistant Dean for Research & Adjunct Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences
Director of Field Studies and Applied Professional Training
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
Robert J. Kim-Farley, MD, MPH, is a Professor-in-Residence with joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Community Health Sciences
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