Office of Public Relations — Newsroom
News Release
AAMC Honors Advocate for American Indian and Alaska Native Health
University of Colorado's Dr. Spero Manson will receive the Herbert W. Nickens Award
WASHINGTON, D.C., (July 10, 2006) -Spero M. Manson, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, has been selected to receive the prestigious Herbert W. Nickens Award from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges), in recognition of his work to advance the health and welfare of American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Dr. Manson, who also directs the university's American Indian and Alaska Native programs, will be the seventh recipient of the award, which is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to promoting justice in medical education and health care.
When Dr. Manson, a Pembina Chippewa, joined the University of Colorado 20 years ago, he set out to develop health and education programs for American Indian and Alaska Native communities like the one he is from. He founded and now directs the university's American Indian and Alaska Native Programs (AIANP), which partner with more than 100 native communities across the country to provide research, program development, training, and health care within rural, reservation, urban, and village settings. AIANP draws upon a wide range of disciplines, including psychiatry, internal medicine, nursing, social work, health economics, and public health. Two-thirds of the AIANP staff and nine of the faculty members are American Indians or Alaska Natives, more than any other medical school in the country.
Dr. Manson believes that the answers to the health problems plaguing his people will emerge from the combined visions of scholars and advocates working together; he himself serves in both roles. In the 1990s he and his colleagues conducted research that found that American Indian and Alaska Native military veterans who participated in tribal healing rituals were less likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder than those who did not. As a direct result of these findings and Dr. Manson's subsequent advocacy efforts, in 1998 the Veterans Health Administration agreed to compensate American Indian and Alaska Native tribes for performing these healing ceremonies for their combat veterans.
Despite the availability of traditional healing for American Indian and Alaska Native veterans, Dr. Manson recognized that this population lacked access to basic medical care for post-traumatic stress disorder. He developed a series of telemedicine partnerships among tribes, the university, the Veterans Health Administration, and the Indian Health Service. Weekly psychiatric clinics-via live videoconference-are now available to veterans living in 12 rural, isolated communities. Four hundred patients have received treatment through this telemedicine network. The program also serves as a training ground for medical students and residents.
Former students and colleagues credit Dr. Manson for training and mentoring many young American Indian and Alaska Native health scientists. In 1999, he was one of just five American Indian researchers who received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH); he received four of the eight grants awarded to native researchers that year. In 2006, the NIH awarded 24 grants to 18 American Indian and Alaska Native researchers-several of these grantees credit their success to Dr. Manson's mentorship.
Dr. Manson completed his graduate education in medical anthropology at the University of Minnesota and his clinical training in psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University. He is also trained in epidemiology and health services research. He serves on numerous national boards and panels, including the National Institutes of Health, Office of the Surgeon General, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Institute of Medicine.
The Herbert W. Nickens Award will be formally presented to Dr. Manson on Oct. 28, at the AAMC's 117th annual meeting in Seattle. He will deliver the Nickens Lecture on Oct. 30.
Dr. Manson joins a distinguished list of award recipients: Joan Y. Reede, M.D., M.P.H. (2005); Michael V. Drake, M.D. (2004); Anna Cherrie Epps, Ph.D. (2003); David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. (2002); Lee Bollinger, J.D. (2001); and Donald Wilson, M.D. (2000).
# # #
The Association of American Medical Colleges is a nonprofit association representing all 125 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 96 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.
University of Colorado School of Medicine faculty work to advance science and improve care as the physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Hospital, The Children's Hospital, Denver Health, National Jewish Medical and Research Center and the Veterans Administration Medical Center. The School is part of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, one of three campuses in the University of Colorado system. For more information, visit the Web site at www.uchsc.edu or the UCDHSC Newsroom at http://www.uchsc.edu/news.