Incoming School of Public Health Dean Julio Frenk Receives Clinton Global Citizen Award

Julio Frenk, who will become Dean of Harvard School of Public Health in
January, 2009, has received a Clinton Global Citizen Award. 

In naming Frenk, along with four other individuals,
former President William J. Clinton said: “The Global Citizen Awards are about
honoring and inspiring service to humanity. Our award recipients were chosen
from a pool of remarkable candidates. Their innovation, dedication and
determination have changed lives, and their actions serve as models of what each
of us can do to make a difference in the world.”

Frenk is the former minister of health of
Mexico and is currently a Senior
Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and President of the Carso
Health Institute.

In
the official announcement of the award, the Clinton Foundation described how
Frenk “has changed the way practitioners and policy makers across the world
think about health. As a result of Frenk’s work as minister of health of
Mexico, Mexican health insurance is
expanding access to quality care for almost 50 million Mexicans…. His ongoing
work continues to deliver a greater focus on evidence-based decision making with
life-saving results.”

Commenting on the announcement, Harvard University
President Drew Faust said: “We at Harvard are so pleased that the Clinton Foundation has
brought recognition to the global humanitarian contributions of extraordinary
people such as Dr. Frenk. As a new dean here, Dr. Frenk will bring to bear his
important global vision and interdisciplinary approach to the work of our
School of
Public Health and to the
entire University.”

The other Global Citizen Award recipients were Jennifer
and Peter Buffett, Co-chairs, NoVo Foundation, Xiaoyi (Sheri) Liao, Founder and
President, Global Village of Beijing and Neville Isdell, Chairman of the Board,
the Coca-Cola Company.