WASHINGTON, DC (March 2, 2026) —The Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University and the Social Mission Alliance today announced the selection of the sixth cohort of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Awards for Excellence in Social Mission in Health Professions Education.
The purpose of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Awards is to recognize outstanding leadership in promoting social mission in health professions education. Social mission is defined as activities or initiatives that teach, model, or improve community engagement, diversity, disparities reduction, value-based care, or engagement with the social determinants of health. Social mission enhancement means making programs not only better, but fairer.
The awards will be presented in five categories: Program Excellence, Institutional Excellence, Fitzhugh Mullan Rising Star, Lifetime Achievement, and a newly named award, the Holly J. Humphrey Award for Individual Excellence.
2026 Awardees
Program Excellence
PreHealth Dreamers
Pre-Health Dreamers (PHD) is the sole national network dedicated to empowering undocumented students to pursue careers in healthcare. With over 1000 members, their innovative approach combines community-building, resources, and advocacy to dismantle immigration-related barriers to professional pathways, addressing systemic exclusion in a way that no other organization does. Pre-Health Dreamers address a critical gap at the intersection of immigration, higher education, health, and economic mobility. As a strong advocate for inclusive policies, PHD trains educators to support undocumented students and empowers students to equip each other with tools to navigate complex systems. PHD's scholar-leaders, who are undocumented students themselves, create pathways for their peers and future generations as they forge ahead, strengthening the healthcare system by ensuring it reflects the communities it serves. Undocumented trainees across the health professions bring diverse language abilities and cultural wealth that improve health outcomes and patient experiences.
Institutional Excellence
City University of New York School of Medicine
Located in Harlem, CUNY Medicine houses an iconic 7-year BS/MD program and one of the nation’s oldest Physician Assistant programs. Under Dr. Carmen Renée Green's leadership as Dean and President, it leads New York and the nation in producing medical professionals traditionally under-represented in medicine. Dr. Green's groundbreaking research and vision of inclusive excellence focuses on developing strategies to address the social determinants of health and medical education to eliminate inequities in our time. Expanding upon the Sophie Davis School for Biomedical Education founding principles to increase pathways to medical education, access and affordability remain Dean Green’s priority in the years ahead, as the national physician shortage is estimated to reach 86,000 by 2036.
Fitzhugh Mullan Rising Star
Ayomide Ojebuoboh
Ayomide Ojebuoboh is an artist and MD-PhD student at the University of Minnesota whose visionary leadership advances the social mission of health professions education. Throughout her time in medical school, she founded interprofessional initiatives such as the Community Health Equity Fellowship and the Health Justice Teach-In Series, bringing together students, artists, and community organizers working towards health justice. In her current home of Minneapolis, Ayomide partners with the caretakers of George Floyd Square to foster community-centered dialogue and wellness grounded in resistance and restoration. Her work spanning patient-centered online platforms, national publications, and the award-winning film We Belong: Navigating Medical School as Black Women, embodies the moral courage and social accountability essential to the future of healthcare.
Lifetime Achievement
Reed Tuckson, MD, FACP
Throughout his career, Dr. Reed V. Tuckson has demonstrated visionary and humane leadership in medicine and public health, guided by an unwavering commitment to health equity, ethics, and social mission. Over decades of public, corporate, nonprofit, academic and community leadership spanning the DC Health Department, United Health Group, AMA, March of Dimes, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science to name a few, Dr. Tuckson has advanced the idea that medicine, public health, education, and communication are a shared enterprise rooted in trust and respect. Dr. Tuckson has shaped generations of leaders and institutions by modeling servant leadership grounded in integrity, compassion, and an unshakable belief in the value of human life. As the co-founder and chair of the Coalition for Trust in Health & Science, he now draws evidence, empathy, and moral clarity together to address some of the most complex challenges facing health and science today.
Holly J. Humphrey Individual Excellence
Monica Hahn, MD, MPH
Dr. Monica Hahn, MD, MPH, MS, is a national leader who has advanced the social mission of health professions education through justice-centered teaching, transformative mentorship, and innovative interprofessional programming. At UCSF, she integrates cultural humility, critical consciousness, and community partnership into medical training, most notably through her course Dismantling Systems of Oppression and her Community Grand Rounds model, which brings learners together with patients and community healers in restorative dialogue. As Clinical Director of the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center and Medical Director of HIVE Clinic, she has led interprofessional initiatives that unite physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and community health workers to strengthen HIV care systems locally and across the Pacific Islands. Embodying true love, integrity, and justice in her work, she has equipped thousands of health professionals to deliver compassionate, equity-centered care while mentoring a generation of leaders committed to advancing health justice nationwide.
Holly Humphrey Award for Individual Excellence: Recognizing Holly J. Humphrey, MD, MACP
The 2026 Awards for Excellence in Social Mission in Health Professions Education will include a newly named award, the Holly Humphrey Award for Individual Excellence, in honor of the late Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation President Dr. Humphrey. The Social Mission Alliance is honored to recognize Dr. Humphrey’s incredible legacy and unwavering leadership in health professions education.
“We are deeply honored that the 2026 Awards for Excellence in Social Mission in Health Professions Education will include the newly established Holly J. Humphrey Award for Individual Excellence. Holly’s visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to improving health care for all patients—especially the most vulnerable among us—shaped every aspect of her work. This award not only commemorates her extraordinary legacy, but also carries forward her enduring call to prepare health professionals who serve with purpose, equity, compassion, and an unrelenting commitment to those who need them most,” says Peter Goodwin, Interim President of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.
The awards will be presented at the 2026 Social Mission Alliance Conference in Los Angeles, California at a special recognition event on March 30, 2026. The Social Mission Alliance conference is an interprofessional forum that aims to advance health equity and social justice through health professions education.
Each awardee receives a financial prize and a commemorative plaque. The awards are presented by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, whose guiding principle is that health professional education has at its core a strong social mission: to serve the public’s needs and improve the health of the public.
The Social Mission Alliance is a national movement, focused on health equity and training health professionals as agents of more equitable health care, based at the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at the Milken Institute School of Public Health.
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