We are pleased to congratulate all the 2022 ASPHER award recipients! We will present and celebrate the awards during the Retreat in Sofia, with additional recognition at EPH in Berlin.

Andrija Štampar Medal

Laurent CHAMBAUD, immediate past Director, École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP), Rennes and Paris, FRANCE

The Andrija Štampar Medal recognizes outstanding lifetime achievements in the public health teaching, research or practices of an esteemed individual within the public health community.

Dr. Laurent Chambaud is the former Dean of EHESP French School of Public Health. Prof Chambaud is a public health physician and former advisor to Ms. Marisol Touraine, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health. He began his career in the service of maternal and child health in 1979. Then he was trained as a medical inspector of public health at the National School of Public Health in 1988. In 1996, Prof Chambaud was appointed national expert seconded to the European Commission and the project coordinator for the establishment of the National Institute of Health Surveillance (INVS). After passing the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs from 2006 to 2010, Prof Chambaud was appointed director of the Public Health Regional Health Agency of Ile-deFrance, and joined the cabinet of Ms. Marisol Touraine.

Prof Laurent Chambaud has a long and recognized career in public health with responsibilities in different countries, intense work in research and training of public health professionals - reflected in leading one of the great international schools. He has a humanist vision of public health and, in particular, has contributed persistent and consistent work on behalf of ASPHER and APHEA. Laurent shares his experience and enthusiasm with the most diverse members of the public health community, promoting bridges between institutions and people. He most recently brokered agreements of scholarship exchange supporting continuity of training in the emergency context of the Ukrainian war. He consolidates a style of leadership that has enormously benefited everyone at ASPHER.

ASPHER Teaching & Practice Excellence Award

The Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

This award recognizes outstanding achievements in public health teaching and practice of a School of Public Health within the ASPHER community. It is given to an ASPHER member school or ASPHER-member programme of public health.

The Institute of Public Health (IPH) of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow has a leading position among the higher education public health institutions in Poland and the Central & Eastern European region. Being part of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Medical College (Collegium Medicum), IPH strives to provide the highest quality teaching and scientific research in the area of public health for over 30 years. Bachelor’s and master’s degree courses in Public Health are offered, as well as Health Care Management, and various forms of postgraduate education, including courses in Management of Health Care Facilities. For many years, IPH study in Public Health has been ranked in the first position in the nation-wide ranking of higher education in Poland. 

IPH concentrates on public health and health care system problems which are important from the standpoint of Europe and the whole planet, seen from the perspective of Poland and Europe. IPH understands that taking an innovative and creative approach in education and practice helps to overcome various kinds of obstacles (political, societal, or teaching-related) within challenging settings. 

This has been translated into gradually building the consciousness of public health issues within both internal and external environments, starting from the local academic environment, the peers in the same faculty and university, and the local community, especially through high schools, in continuous efforts to develop public health as a science and field of concentration for higher education studies in the increasingly competitive academic setting. 

ASPHER Research Excellence Award 

Nadav DAVIDOVITCH, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

This award recognizes outstanding achievements in public health research. It is given annually to an individual – on behalf of their research team – primarily affiliated with an ASPHER member school. 

Prof Davidovitch has been running multiple research ventures that address issues important to public health: access to quality health services and health promotion, always anchoring it in equity, diversity, leaving-no-one-behind and solidarity. His research spans into the One Health Approach, ethics, human rights. He has received multiple research grants in the areas of inequities, public-private relations in health systems, social determinants for health and access of services, health promotion and beyond. Through the COVID-19 pandemic Nadav ran research funded by the Israeli National Health Research Institute on human rights, together with law, justice and ethics experts from Tel Aviv University. 

Nadav is the Head of the School of Public Health in Ben Gurion University in Israel and a highly respected researcher and expert. Nadav has been called multiple times to provide his input to Parliamentary Commissions, Committees and to civil society organizations. Prof Davidovitch is a sought after interviewee by the media in Israel, Europe and beyond. Nadav has joined civil society organizations and the authorities aiming to close the health gaps in Israel and focuses on the Bedouin community and other marginalized groups. 

Prof Nadav Davidovitch is a humane, excellent, unique researcher in public health. He is driven by the set of norms of values that Public Health is anchored in. He has nurtured, guided, taught and brought to the front stage many generations of public health workers and made impact through linking research with policy.

ASPHER Early Career Excellence Award 

This award recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of teaching, research, or practice of early career individuals. It is given annually to a maximum of five individuals that are primarily affiliated with an ASPHER member school. Early career positions considered for this award include up to associate professors.

Keren DOPELT, Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, Israel

Keren Dopelt, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer and the head of the Ethics Committee in the department of Public Health at Ashkelon Academic College where she is also teaching and advising undergraduate public health students with a strong emphasis on health inequities. 

Keren is also a Research Associate at Ben Gurion University School of Public Health and the Center for Health Policy Research in the Negev, and the coordinator of the "Health Forum of the Negev" at the faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University. She was the main initiator of the health leadership course at BGU, leading the course last spring, introducing new syllabus and advanced PBL and simulations methodologies. 

Keren is an ASPHER Associate Fellow focussed on a variety of issues, including social responsibility of public health practitioners and in the last 2 years on SEEEPHI Erasmus capacity building project and the main force moving forward the health leadership work package, she is also the advisor of 3 master students working on this topic. 

More broadly Keren is working on health inequities in Israel, influencing policies both on the regional level in the Negev and national level. She has vast experience in implementing and evaluating health promotion programs in the community with a strong focus on reducing health inequalities. She is the co-founder of the annual Conferences for Health Equity in the Negev. Dr. Dopelt has published about 20 papers in leading journals. 

Rok HRZIC, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands

Rok Hrzic is a physician by training and holds MSc degrees in Epidemiology and in Governance and Leadership in European Public Health from Maastricht University. He has experience with novel data sources and analysis methods in public health, in particular utilizing hospital information systems and insurance claims datasets in the area of rare diseases, and indicators of population health and health system performance. He is an affiliated doctoral student with the International Max Planck Research School on Population, Health and Data Science, pursuing a thesis on determinants of mortality convergence in the European Union.

As an ASPHER Associate Fellow, Rok has been an amazing resource to the ASPHER Covid-19 Task Force, leading the weekly countries survey situation report, including revising it according to the dynamic situation. He has also contributed to several important Task Force statements and  leading the panel submission for the EPH conference on COVID 19 workforce activities and lessons. In his activities with ASPHER, Rok consistently displays leadership, maturity and independence.