Calderone Honors Recognize Public Health Leadership
The Frank A. Calderone Prize in Public Health—the field’s highest honor—was awarded on May 13 to Jonathan Samet for his transformative work on air pollution and tobacco control, while two New York City community organizations were recognized for their vital local impact, receiving the Drs. Frank and Mary Calderone City Health Award.
Since 1986, the Calderone Prize has honored leaders who make transformational contributions to improve health on a population scale. Samet, a physician-epidemiologist and former dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, has shaped policy through landmark research on inhaled pollutants. His leadership on EPA and FDA advisory committees translated science into lifesaving regulations.
“You have saved countless lives, and your research and advocacy for clean air have had a profoundly positive impact on the health and well-being of millions of people,” Dean Linda P. Fried said at the awards ceremony.
The 2025 Calderone City Health Awards recognize the efforts of South Bronx Unite, which has partnered with Columbia researchers to produce evidence to improve health outcomes, and the Women’s Community Justice Association, which supports the health and well-being of women and LGBTQ+ people before, during, and after incarceration.
Evidence Into Action
In his Calderone lecture, Samet outlined public health’s enduring blueprint for policy change—a process nearly unchanged since John Snow’s 1854 cholera investigation, where epidemiological evidence traced cases to a contaminated well, prompting officials to remove the pump handle. As chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee guiding the EPA’s research agenda, Samet applied a similar evidence-to-action framework to assure that research addressed the needs of the policy agenda on particulate matter air pollution. Later, as Chair of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, known as CASAC, he worked with the Agency in implementing a new evidence-based framework for setting the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The process added the Integrated Science Assessments—rigorous evaluations of air pollution risks that became the foundation for clean air regulations.
Samet’s career has bridged research and real-world impact. In the 90s, he testified as an expert witness in tobacco litigation, presenting his findings on smoking’s health consequences. Earlier work connecting Navajo miners’ lung cancer to uranium exposure led him to advocate directly with Utah Senator Orrin Hatch to strengthen radiation compensation and its grounding in scientific evidence. “These [activities] are not necessarily what we get paid to do by NIH, but they’re part of what we need to do,” the professor said.
Decades ago, tobacco companies pioneered ways to exploit scientific uncertainty to cast doubt, observed Samet. “The tobacco industry basically stood epidemiology on its head,” he noted. Now, scientific progress faces new challenges like deep cuts to research funding and the dismissal of experts on the EPA’s Science Advisory Board—including the 2025 Calderone Prize winner. Samet said rebuilding public health will take time, but the chance will come. “Don't give up,” he urged attendees.
“Investing in the Community”
Francesca Calderone-Steichen reflected on the legacy of her parents—public health physicians Frank Calderone and Mary Steichen Calderone, who met after her mother earned her MPH at Columbia Mailman. Together, the couple worked to improve maternal and child health in New York City. Her father later helped shape the World Health Organization’s policies and secure its funding. At the same time, her mother, an advocate for women’s reproductive rights, served as Planned Parenthood’s first female medical director.
Following in their footsteps, Francesca Calderone-Steichen dedicated her public health career to serving homebound elders in New York City. “I feel very strongly that we do not pay enough attention to the small organizations working at the grassroots levels throughout the country,” she said. “I don't think we recognize how hard it is.”
(The Calderone family also supports early career research by faculty at Columbia Mailman, with six Calderone Junior Faculty Awards announced each year.)
Both Calderone City Health Award winners embody the family’s commitment to local interventions. South Bronx Unite works to improve and protect the social, environmental, and economic future of Mott Haven and Port Morris. In recent years, the organization has partnered with Columbia Mailman researchers to analyze the impact of air pollution in the area. “Working with the Mailman School has been instrumental in our ability to stand up and tell our own story and have research-driven solutions,” said Mychal Johnson, South Bronx Unite’s co-founder.
The Women's Community Justice Association takes a parallel approach to advocacy, centering the mental and physical well-being of women in communities of color across the five boroughs. Executive Director Sharon White-Harrigan articulated their mission: “We focus on women because they are overlooked, underacknowledged, and underrepresented. … When you invest in women, you’re investing in men, children, and families—most importantly, you are investing in the community.”