The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) has selected Leana Wen, MD, MSc, FAAEM, an emergency physician, public health professor at George Washington University, and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, as the 2022 Walter C. Alvarez Award Recipient. This award recognizes excellence in communicating health care developments and concepts to the public and is named after Walter C. Alvarez, MD, a pioneer in the field of medical communication.
Wen’s career has focused on public health as a fundamental force in our individual lives and well-being. Previously, she served as Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, where she led the nation’s oldest continuously operating health department in the United States to fight the opioid epidemic, treat violence and racism as public health issues, and improve maternal and child health. She directed the public health recovery efforts of Baltimore after the 2015 riots, working to ensure access to prescription medication after pharmacy closures and working to develop the city’s mental health and trauma recovery plan with crisis counseling, youth health and wellness, and violence prevention programs. As she states in her memoir, Lifelines, “Public health saved your life today―you just don’t know it.”