Dr. Laurie Bauman's Youth Program Receives
Public Health Community Award

July 16, 2008 — (BRONX, NY) — The Public Health Association of New York City (PHANYC) has awarded a 2008 Public Health Community Award to the Bronx Youth as Partners in Community-Based Participatory Research of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The program, which is led by Dr. Laurie Bauman, professor of pediatrics at Einstein and director of its Preventive Intervention Research Center for Child Health, was recognized for its leadership and contributions for improving the health and well being of children in New York City.

The program, coined Albert's Leaders of Tomorrow (A.L.O.T.) by its teen participants, engaged Bronx teens in the design of an intervention to address mental health disparities among African American and Latino youth. This effort involved identifying ways to prevent mental health problems among African American and Latino teens in the Bronx while also seeking to reduce existing mental health issues for those who had them.

"Over a three-year period, our teen-age partners worked with a coalition of community agencies to determine how we could do a better job of reaching them and their peers as we address disparities in healthcare in their home communities," said Dr. Bauman. "The teens were and are fundamental to the success of the program."

A new initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), known as BxTHUNDER, has arisen from this work. BxTHUNDER focuses on the mental health intervention that the teens have designed. It will be set up this fall as a pilot project in three Bronx community agencies.

The PHANYC is an active organization of public health professionals with a rich tradition of commitment to improving public health. The organization is committed to promoting the health of the public, confronting current public health issues by informing and mobilizing its members and the general public through community education and professional exchange, social action, advocacy and policy analysis. In 2004, the association created the Public Health Community Awards to recognize the organizational leadership and advocacy that promotes pubic health in New York City communities.

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