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Anderson Honored as 2007 Distinguished Alumni by the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health

Elaine R. Anderson, M.P.H.’76 was recognized as this year’s Distinguished Alumni at the Yale School of Public Health’s 2007 Alumni Day. The award, established in 1988, is the highest award given by the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health (AYAPH). It recognizes an alumnus who has had a distinguished career in academic public health and public health practice, and who exemplifies the highest level of achievement in leadership, service to Yale, and service to the public.

Anderson recently retired from her position as Director of Community and Alumni Affairs and Special Studies at the Yale School of Public Health where she worked for nearly three decades, providing a welcoming community for alumni and students, particularly underrepresented minority students and faculty, and promoting the study of health disparities and community-based participative research. She currently serves as AYAPH Co-Chair of the Public Health Alumni Fund.

After receiving her M.P.H., Anderson joined the State of Connecticut Department of Health Services' Bureau of Health Planning and Development as a long-term care planner, contributing to the development of the first State Health Plan. During her tenure, Anderson spearheaded a successful effort to enact legislation which redefined “death”, to facilitate organ transplantation. She eventually became Planning Supervisor.

Elaine returned to the Yale School of Public Health in 1980. She served under seven chairpersons/deans and interim deans; trained and nurtured over 2,000 students in community projects and career counseling sessions; provided continuing education resources to train over 5,000 public health practitioners; created programs and developed events that served nearly 4,000 alumni; designed and conducted three successful, full-scale self-studies for the school’s reaccredidation; and was awarded close to $5 million dollars in grant money to fund many of these initiatives.

She devoted herself to the establishment of the School’s Community Recognition Award and the coat-of-arms, the reinvigoration of the Alumni Association, the establishment of several scholarship funds, and the development of the School’s first diversity plan. Her publications and professional presentations have been primarily on topics related to minority health, gender issues in healthcare, workforce development, and changing global values as they relate to health behaviors.