Magda Peck, Sc.D., professor of pediatrics and public health for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, has been selected for the John C. MacQueen Lecture Award for her innovative work in the field of maternal and child health (MCH).
The award is one of the most prestigious honors given by the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), one of the nation’s leading public health groups advocating for quality health care for women, children and families. Dr. Peck was honored on Feb. 24 at the 2009 AMCHP annual conference in Washington, DC.
Each year, the awardee of the John C. MacQueen Lecture Award is invited to deliver a dynamic and inspirational lecture at the Annual MacQueen Lecture Luncheon during the AMCHP conference. Selection for the award is based on the individual’s contributions and advocacy to the maternal and child health field and for their efforts in trying to establish and maintain a healthy community.
The John C. MacQueen Lecture Award is named in honor of Dr. MacQueen, the former director of the Iowa Child Health Specialty Clinics, the state’s program for children with special health care needs.
“It was so sweet to deliver this year’s lecture to my maternal and child health colleagues from across the country,” Dr. Peck said. “To join former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman on the list of MacQueen awardees was a tremendous honor.”
Two prominent United States senators – Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) – also received major awards at this year’s AMCHP conference.
In 1990, Dr. Peck founded CityMatCH, a national public health organization headquartered at UNMC. CityMatCH, whose members include leaders and public health organizations from the 200 largest cities in the country, is dedicated to improving the health of women, children and families in urban areas.
Dr. Peck’s innovative work through CityMatCH has advanced the field in translating research into practice and created new strategies for building local capacity to use data to inform practice and policy.
After earning her master’s and doctorate degrees in public health from Harvard University, Dr. Peck joined UNMC in 1989 as an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics. She was named associate professor in 1994 and full professor in 1999. She became professor of public health in 2007. She also serves as director of health policy and planning at the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
Dr. Peck has been a champion for public health education, leadership and practice at UNMC. In 2002, she was named the founding director of the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program through UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She later helped initiate the new College of Public Health.
In 2005, Dr. Peck was instrumental in forming the Great Plains Public Health Leadership Institute, a yearlong program designed to strengthen leadership among those who work in public health. She continues to direct the institute, one of 14 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded public health leadership institutes nationwide.
The institute is designed for senior and emerging leaders in public and private organizations whose primary mission is to improve the health and well being of populations and communities in our region. Since 2005, the institute has trained 65 scholars in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.
For more than 70 years, the AMCHP has worked as a nonprofit organization to protect the health and well-being of all families, especially those who are low-income and underserved. AMCHP members come from the highest levels of state government and include directors of maternal and child health programs, directors of programs for children with special health care needs, adolescent health coordinators and public health leaders, as well as academic, advocacy and community-based family health professionals and families themselves.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $82 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.