Award Named in Honor of Sanford Professor Emeritus

The Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) has announced the Sherman A. James Diverse and Inclusive Epidemiology Award, named for the Sanford School’s Professor Emeritus Sherman James.

The award will recognize research, teaching or service by an individual that expands the scope of the field to under-represented or disadvantaged populations or researchers and that has facilitated greater diversity and inclusiveness. A core criteria for the award is interdisciplinary contributions or leadership to diversity and inclusion related efforts.

Image

James is the Susan B. King Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the Sanford School. Prior to Sanford, he taught epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Michigan.

He developed the John Henryism Hypothesis which posits that repeated high-effort coping with chronic social and economic adversity rooted in structural racism is an important factor in the early onset of hypertension and related cardiovascular diseases in African Americans.

The award is sponsored by the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Department Epidemiology and will be presented at the SER annual meeting. The inaugural recipient will receive the award at the 2022 SER Meeting in Chicago in June.  Nominations are open from September 30, 2021 through January 14, 2022.