Alumna’s Research on Racism Earns Award for Young “Health Leaders”

December 12, 2012

Joining a roster of “extraordinary health leaders” under 40 years old, Naa Oyo A. Kwate ’02Ph.D. is one of 10 practitioners and researchers to receive the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) first-ever Young Leaders Award.

“It’s a little surreal,” said Dr. Kwate, an Associate Professor of Human Ecology and Africana Studies at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. “To be counted among such an eclectic group of people, who bring so many diverse perspectives to the table, is a huge honor. When I learned that they’d received 850 applications, and I was one of only 10 they’d chosen, I was floored.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created its Young Leaders Award in recognition of the foundation’s 40th anniversary. Each honoree received $40,000 as part of the award, which highlights the early contributions made by many young health practitioners and researchers. Based in Princeton, NJ, the foundation is the largest U.S. philanthropy devoted exclusively to public health.

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