For Immediate Release: April 4, 2019

Media Contact: Mina Radman, mradman@gwu.edu, 202-486-2529

Milken Institute School of Public Health Names First Ever Geiger Gibson Program Emeritus Distinguished Visitor

WASHINGTON, D.C. and NEW YORK, NY (April 4, 2019) —The Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University has named Daniel R. Hawkins as the Geiger Gibson Program Emeritus Distinguished Visitor, the first in the history of the program.

The Geiger Gibson Distinguished Visitor Program honors leaders in the health center movement who have made vast contributions throughout their careers to community health centers and medically underserved communities. Each year, the Geiger Gibson Program selects a Distinguished Visitor to share their insights with students, faculty, and staff at the George Washington University through an in-residence lectureship and campus visit. These Distinguished Visitors also support the program as ongoing advisors after their appointment.

Hawkins was selected unanimously by the program’s Distinguished Visitors as the first Emeritus Distinguished Visitor of the Geiger Gibson Program. An esteemed figure in the community health center movement for 50 years, Hawkins led one of the nation’s first migrant health centers, served on the Carter Administration’s national health reform team and later led the health policy division of the National Association of Community Health Centers. During Hawkins’s tenure, health centers grew into the single largest primary care system in the United States, serving over 27 million people.

“The growth of the community health center program in America, and the expansion of health access to millions of people in medically underserved areas, is due in no small part to Dan’s deep policy knowledge, well-informed pragmatism and commitment to health justice and equity,” said Feygele Jacobs, President and CEO of the RCHN Community Health Foundation, whose ongoing gift supports the Geiger Gibson Program. “Daniel Hawkins is truly renowned as a leader of the health center movement and so deserving of this recognition.”

The Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy is a special initiative of Milken Institute SPH, which was named in honor of Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers in community health practice and tireless advocates for civil and human rights. The Geiger Gibson Program has worked since 2004 to help eliminate medical underservice and disparities in population health through education, training and research projects.

###

About the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy:
The Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy is a special initiative of Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University.  Housed in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and named after Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers in community health practice and tireless advocates for civil and human rights, the program aims to develop the next generation of community health leaders by offering education, research and training in community health practice and leadership. The program’s research and educational activities seek to advance the education and policy development in the fields of health centers, primary health care for medically underserved populations, and health disparities reduction. The Geiger Gibson Program also offers a Fellows program, a health policy elective for medical residents, scholarship opportunities, an annual Distinguished Visitorship and more. 

About the RCHN Community Health Foundation: The RCHN Community Health Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation established to support community health centers through strategic investment, outreach, education, and cutting-edge health policy research. The only foundation in the U.S. dedicated solely to community health centers, RCHN CHF builds on a long-standing commitment to providing accessible, high-quality, community-based healthcare services for underserved and medically vulnerable populations. The Foundation’s gift to the Geiger Gibson program supports health center research and scholarship.

About Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University:
The Milken Institute School of Public Health is the only school of public health in the nation’s capital.