Dean Anna Maria Siega-Riz Named a 2025 Beacons for the Common Good Honoree by the Massachusetts Health Council
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Anna Maria Siega-Riz, dean of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, is one of four individuals and two organizations named by the Massachusetts Health Council (MHC) as one of its 2025 Beacons for the Common Good Award Honorees.
In announcing this year’s awardees, the MHC noted that Siega-Riz, who is also a professor of nutrition, epidemiology and biostatistics, received the honor for providing impactful and visionary leadership and contributing extensively to the advocacy, research and development of innovative public health solutions. Her research focuses on the first 1,000 days of life and understanding the influences of diet, nutrition and lifestyle on the short and long-term health of the mother and the child. She also leads UMass Amherst’s efforts on “Food as Medicine,” working closely with UMass Dining and faculty in nutrition, food science and nursing to alleviate food insecurity within communities and improve health providers' knowledge and application of culinary skills and nutrition in their clinical practice to improve patient’s health.
Other individual honorees joining Siega-Riz are Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, Boston Globe medical reporter Jessica Bartlett, and Louis Brady, president and CEO of Family Health Center of Worcester. Fenway Health and the Massachusetts Medical Society were also honored with the award by the MHC, a leading collective force in health advocacy, education and policy in the state.
Siega-Riz and her fellow honorees will be recognized at the MHC’s annual “Honoring Beacons of the Common Good” awards celebration on Thursday, Sept. 18, at Artists for Humanity in Boston.
“As MHC celebrates 105 years of impact, we applaud this year’s honorees for their unwavering leadership and commitment to safeguard and strengthen the health of all residents across every region of the Commonwealth,” Angela Ortiz, MHC chief executive officer said in the awards’ announcement. “From expanding and protecting sexual and reproductive rights, advancing health equity in underserved communities, reporting on the state of our health system, advocating to drive policy and systems change, and building our workforce development pipeline, we are proud to honor these change agents for their significant contributions towards access, equity and safety across the state, especially our most vulnerable and underserved communities.”
The MHC was founded in 1920 to bring together the state’s top health leaders to more effectively address the state’s tuberculosis epidemic and other public health issues. Celebrating 105 years of impact, its mission today continues to be to protect and improve the health of all residents in the commonwealth and it remains a leading convener of pressing and emerging public health issues with the goal of collective action and impact for the common good.
More information about the MHC can be found at mahealthcouncil.org.