Affiliate members honored for contributions to public health.

Two outstanding Affiliate members were recognized for their contributions during the APHA Committee on Affiliates annual awards ceremony and reception in November.

The event, which took place during APHA's 135th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., culminated with the presentation of the Award for Excellence as well as the Chair's Citation, which is chosen by the CoA chair.

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Defined as someone who demonstrates outstanding leadership in advocating and promoting public health, the Committee on Affiliates 2007 Award for Excellence was given to Florida Public Health Association member and executive director Sandra F. Magyar, MEd, CHES, who said she was honored to receive the award and "humbled" to be recognized among so many outstanding public health professionals.

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"My work with the Florida Public Health Association has been a chance for me to pay back the FPHA for all of the opportunities and benefits I received as a member for so many years," Magyar told The Nation's Health.

Magyar, an APHA member, assumed the role of executive director at the Florida Public Health Association in 2002, shortly after retiring from the Florida Department of Health and the Duval County Health Department. At the time, the Affiliate's "finances were in disarray, membership was down and we were broke," noted Affiliate President and APHA member Michael Napier, MHS, in a nominating letter. Magyar's leadership and perseverance helped the Affiliate develop a budget to plan and track its finances, and Magyar worked with the volunteer board to move the association forward. Her many accomplishments include almost doubling the Florida Affiliate's membership.

With more than 20 years of service to the Florida Affiliate in various capacities, Magyar was instrumental in creating the Florida Public Health Foundation, which provides a vehicle for managing grant applications for county health departments. Also honored during the CoA ceremony in November was APHA member Thomas Quade, MPH, MA, the Ohio Affiliate's representative to

APHA's Governing Council, who received the Chair's Citation. Quade has contributed greatly to efforts surrounding the APHA Affiliate Capacity-Building Initiative (see story, Page 21), said Elizabeth Zelazek, MS, CoA chair in 2007.

Through his involvement, Quade was instrumental in helping APHA secure a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2006, which is being used to help strengthen Affiliates. Quade also presided over efforts to appoint the grant advisory committee and led many the efforts around developing criteria to establish requests for proposals and evaluate potential grant recipients.

"Tom was of great help to me during my term as chair of the CoA," Zelazek told The Nation's Health. "He approaches every activity with integrity, competency and a sense of humor."