Alumni News
Gotsch is APHA President-Elect
In November, Audrey R. Gotsch, Dr. P.H., ’76, will assume the office of president of the American Public Health association.
Noting in her candidacy platform statement that the APHA’s 125th anniversary is “an opportunity for celebration of our past successes, as well as reflection about future directions, Gotsch called on public health professionals to “champion the science-based foundation of our research and compassionate excellence in practice while forging a political agenda to assure health for all.”
Among her priorities for APHA, Gotsch includes strategic collaborations aimed at maximizing efforts to advance the national and international public health agenda; strengthened tobacco control/prevention strategies to end tobacco use; and a greater emphasis in managed care discussions on the need for access to quality care for all populations, especially those at risk due to poor health or special needs.
A former student in the Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Gotsch is currently chief, Division of Community Health Education, professor and vice chair, Department of Environmental and Community Medicine, and director, Clinical Prevention Program, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She also serves as director, Health Education and Behavioral Science Track and deputy director, New Jersey Graduate Program in Public Health, and director, Division of Public Education and Risk Communication, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences institute, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Since 1984, Gotsch has helped design, implement and replicate an environmental and occupational health information program that includes an environmental health sciences curriculum to provide critical thinking skills for youth in K-12th grades. This initiative received the Secretary’s Award for Outstanding in Community Health Promotion. With support from NIOSH, NIEHS, and EPA, she directs a regional training program that has enhanced the skills of over 170,000 workers in environmental and occupational health content areas. This program also includes an initiative to train young people of color living in the major urban centers of New York and Northern New Jersey for employment in environmental remediation and construction jobs.
In her busy and wide-ranging career, Gotsch has evaluated the efficacy of the first hospice demonstration initiative in the United States; developed the first training materials for health care professionals concerning the hospice concept and care of the terminally ill; developed and evaluated a standardized cardiac teaching program that received the Certificate of Merit for Achievement by the American Hospital association; developed the methodological aspects for a New Jersey ocean beach study; provided the public with information regarding Community Right-to-Know; and developed public and professional educational materials and programs related to breast and cervical cancer control.