Senator Andy Nichols Honor Award

Awarded for those who have made outstanding contributions to public health through the development of good public health policy. The Senator Andy Nichols Award honors those who have made outstanding contributions to public health throughout their career. The award is primarily for contributions to public health in Arizona. It may be granted to any resident or former resident of Arizona who has made a significant contribution to public health elsewhere.

Dr. Nichols was a long-time professor of community medicine. He founded the University of Arizona’s Rural Health Office in 1970 and served in both the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives. He championed an array of legislation that elevate public health in our state. Such legislation included authoring a ballot measure that expanded AHCCCS health coverage. When he died in 2011, Governor Hull noted that he “was a man who truly left the world with more than he took.”

  • 2025 | Karen Woodhouse

  • 2024 | Barbara Burkholder

  • 2023 | Theresa Cullen, MD

  • 2022 | Doug Campos-Outcalt, DO

  • 2021 | Michael Allison & Debbie McCune Davis

  • 2020 | COVID-19 Pandemic: No Awards

  • 2019 | Dr. Lynn Gerald

  • 2018 | Susan Gerard & Jill de Zapien

  • 2017 | Tara Plese

  • 2016 | Bob England, MD

  • 2015 | Eddie Sissons

  • 2014 | Will Humble

  • 2013 | Pete Wertheim

  • 2012 | Roger Hughes

  • 2011 | Dean Brennan

  • 2010 | Joel Meister, PhD

  • 2009 | Kathy Byrne

  • 2008 | Albert Brown, MPA

  • 2007 | Patricia VanMaanen, RN, MS

  • 2006 | Charlotte Harrison

  • 2005 | Tim Flood, MD

  • 2004 | Keven Dresen, PhD

  • 2003 | Carol Kamin

  • 2002 | Jonathan B Weisbuch, MD, MPH

  • 2001 | Leland Fairbanks

  • 1999 | Jane Lange

  • 1998 | Robert Alfick, MD, MSM, MPH

  • 1997 | Sally Lewis

  • 1996 | Jane Canby

  • 1995 | Jack Dillenberg, DDS

  • 1994 | Jane Pearson

  • 1993 | Wadie W. Kamel

  • 1992 | Sarah Kramer

  • 1991 | Phil Lopes

  • 1990 | Patricia Moore

  • 1987 | Representative Bart Baker & David Herman

  • 1986 | Margaret Welch

  • 1985 | –

  • 1984 | Bernice Epstein

  • 1983 | B. Harness

  • 1982 | Hazel Bennett

  • 1981 | Lois Anne Crist

  • 1980 | Herbert Abrams

  • 1979 | Bailey Batiste

  • 1978 | Betty R. Ord

  • 1977 | Leroy Kochert

  • 1976 | Melvin Goodwin

  • 1975 | Mary Copeland

  • 1974 | Raymond Kaufman

  • 1972 | Iva Harlin

  • 1971 | Federick Brady

  • 1970 | Mary Caldwell

  • 1969 | Pearl Tang

  • 1968 | Elain McFarland & Neils Paulsen

  • 1967 | Joseph Weinstein

  • 1966 | S. F. Farnsworth

  • 1965 | Margaret Maleady

  • 1964 | George Marx

  • 1959 | Annie Wauneka

Senator Andy Nichols Honor Award Winners