Gerber Receives Riegelman Award for Excellence in Public Health Education

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Daniel Gerber, senior lecturer in community health education and associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, has been selected by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) to receive the 2018 Riegelman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Public Health Education.

This national award is given to one full-time, undergraduate public health faculty member at a school or program accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.

Recipients must have made outstanding contributions in the following: exemplary efforts to start or sustain a new program; innovative teaching techniques using advanced technology; relationships with practice partners in the community; collaboration with other disciplines; and relationships with graduate programs in public health.

Gerber will be recognized at a luncheon March 7 in Alexandria, Virginia, during the ASPPH Undergraduate Public Health and Global Health Education Summit.

 “It is quite an honor for me to receive this award for two reasons,” says Gerber. “One, I am honored that dean Marjorie Aelion nominated me, and two, it’s the Riegelman Award! Dick Riegelman is the father of undergraduate public health education, and I have been fortunate to learn from him over the years at conferences he has organized. I am still in awe and humbled that I am receiving this prestigious award.”

Gerber was responsible for creating the Bachelor of Science in public health sciences at UMass Amherst in 2006. Under his leadership the program has grown from 25 students in 2007 to become one of the biggest and fastest-growing majors on campus with more than 800 students in 2017.

Gerber continues as an instructor, as well as administrator of the program.