UIC CoE-MCH Program Director Emeritus Recipient of Two Prestigious Awards

Zaneta Sulley, Nikki Gottleib | Posted on February 04, 2025
Collage of photos, left to right: man and woman smiling at camera, four people with arms around each other in joy, man holding award with recipient, three women close up smiling at camera

 

In 2024, Dr. Arden Handler, a prominent figure at UIC and longtime Director of the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health until her recent retirement in the fall of the same year, received two awards recognizing her work and service. She received the 2024 Research Award from the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group. This award is for Chicago-area leaders who have exemplified the Health & Medicine mission to build power and momentum for social justice and health equity in Illinois. In addition to this, Dr. Handler also received the 2024 CityMatCH Heroes Award. Historically, this award has only been presented to CityMatCH retiring board members, so Dr. Handler is the first non-board member recipient to receive this award. The CityMaCH award serves to recognize individuals, teams, institutions, and leaders of institutions that improve the health of women, children, and families by making significant contributions to one or more of the following:

  • Advancing public health knowledge through epidemiology and applied research,
  • Improving public health practice through effective use of data and epidemiology and training in the field
  • Enhancing the political will to support practice and advance knowledge through effective use of data, epidemiology, and applied research.

Dr. Handler’s research career exhibits her long-standing commitment to reducing inequities and improving the health of women, pregnant and postpartum persons, children, and families. She specifically explores the factors that increase the risk for inequities in adverse pregnancy outcomes and examines ways for the healthcare delivery system to improve these risks and reduce inequities. Her other research and teaching interests include maternal and child health advocacy and policy, building the analytic capacity of the MCH workforce through MCH epidemiology, and the structure and functioning of the public health delivery system.

Dr. Handler is a nationally renowned leader in maternal and child health advocacy, policy, epidemiology, and public health system improvement, who served as a former member of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality during the Obama Administration. In recognition of her many contributions to improving outcomes in maternal and infant health, she has received awards that include the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s 2021 Title V Lifetime Achievement Award and recognition as one of six 2021 University Scholars in the University of Illinois system.

The UIC CoE-MCH is honored to claim Dr. Handler as one of our own and we’re thrilled to see her recognized for her exceptional work!