Porter Prize

2022 Porter Prize Honoree: Dr. Victor Dzau

The University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health is pleased to honor Dr. Victor Dzau, President of the National Academy of Medicine, with the 2022 Porter Prize – in recognition of his exemplary performance in health promotion and disease prevention. 

An event recognizing his contributions to the field of public health is planned for Wednesday, November 30, 2022. 

Previous Porter Prize Honorees

  • 1985 Anne Somers, health economist and author 1986 Clarence Pearson, Peter Drucker Institute
  • 1987 Robert D. Sparks, W. K. Kellogg Foundation 1988 Rev. Fred M. Rogers, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
  • 1989 J. Michael McGinnis, assistant surgeon general; deputy assistant secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and senior vice president and founding director of the Health Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • 1991 Senator John Heinz III
  • 1992 Wilford A. Payne, Primary Care Health Services
  • 1993 Lisbeth B. Schorr, social worker and author
  • 1994 Jonathan Fielding, University of California at Los Angeles
  • 1995 “It Takes a Whole Community to Raise a Child”
  • 1996 C. Everett Koop, former U.S. surgeon general
  • 1998 Lester Breslow, University of California at Los Angeles
  • 2001 Steven A. Schroeder, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • 2002 Gordon DeFriese, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 2003 William Novelli, AARP
  • 2004 Louis W. Sullivan, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and founder of the Morehouse School of Medicine
  • 2009 Nancy G. Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure
  • 2011 Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris; 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine recipient for the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
  • 2014 Michael Moss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
  • 2016 Paul A. Offit, physician, educator, virologist and author
  • 2019 Donald S. Burke, physician, virologist, and researcher

Excellence in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

The Porter Prize is awarded in recognition of an individual’s exemplary performance in health promotion and disease prevention. The Porter Prize is named in honor of Milton and Adrienne Porter.

Milton Porter (1910–96), as CEO of the L.B. Foster Company, was among the first industrialists in the nation to view the workplace as a site for wellness programs. Activities at his company resulted in smoking cessation, weight loss, and increased physical activity among employees. Understanding the benefits to society of clearly focused, well-managed, and fully funded health promotion and disease prevention efforts is the Porters’ legacy.