Kioumehr-Dadsetan to receive new peace award.

The new Sidel-Levy Award for Peace, which recognizes an APHA member who has made outstanding contributions to preventing war and promoting international peace, will be given to Farideh Kioumehr-Dadsetan, DVM, DrPH, MPH, at the APHA Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Kioumehr-Dadsetan is founder and executive director of the International Health and Epidemiology Research Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and prevention of epidemics. As part of her position there, she established the Anti- Violence Campaign, an ongoing project that identifies gun violence as one of society's greatest social epidemics. The project began in 1994 as Peace Day, an event that has sought to educate parents, community leaders and children of the dangers of gun violence. Over the years, thousands of toy guns, weapons and other items have been collected along with thousands of signatures on petitions against gun violence.

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From the collected toy guns and other weapons, art pieces have been created and displayed in the Los Angeles Children's Art Museum, Irvine City Hall, Culver City Library and other venues to spread the message of the dangers of gun violence, and Peace Day is now being replicated in cities across the United States as well as internationally in such countries as Canada, Brazil, France and South Africa.

Kioumehr-Dadsetan served as a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Safety Planning Committee and was so successful in bringing to light the danger of toy guns for children that the center encouraged schools around the country to replicate her model during America's Safe School Week. Kioumehr-Dadsetan has organized peace marches in California and across the country against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She also participated in marches against the Vietnam War as a young student at the University of Michigan, where she received her MPH and DrPH in epidemiology.

Among her many honors, she received a Community Service Award from the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the Daily Point of Light Award from the Point of Light Foundation, a Spirit of Volunteerism Award and a San Fernando Woman of the Year Award.

In addition to heading the International Health and Epidemiology Research Center, Kioumehr-Dadsetan is chief executive officer of the 21st Century Medical Imaging Center in Burbank, Calif., and president and CEO of America Medical Imaging Center Inc. in Glendale, Calif.