Rutgers School of Public Health Dean Receives Helen Rodriguez-Trías Social Justice Award

Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, has received the 2024 Helen Rodriguez-Trías Social Justice Award from the American Public Health Association for his advocacy work and research aimed at improving the health of LGBTQ+ people and populations.

The award is presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves professionally by championing social justice for underserved and disadvantaged populations.

“Dean Halkitis’s exemplary leadership and mentoring efforts to eliminate health inequities are key factors in this recognition,” said Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor Brian Strom, who leads Rutgers Health. “This award underscores his relentless dedication to the communities and causes he champions.”

Halkitis is an infectious disease epidemiologist, applied statistician, and public health psychologist. For three decades, he has focused his research on the emergence, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in sexual, gender and racial-ethnic minority populations. He has been at the forefront of fighting for the rights of those infected with and affected by HIV as well as being an advocate for the rights and health of LGBTQ+ people and populations.

Halkitis has gained recognition for his long-term research on co-occurring health issues among young men having sex with men, such as smoking use and HPV vaccine misinformation, and founded the Annals of LGBTQ+ Public & Population Health, a peer-reviewed journal focused on LGBTQ+ public health and public policy research. He also chaired an Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health task force promoting zero tolerance for sexual harassment and discrimination in higher education. 

“This award is a testament not only to Dean Halkitis’s dedication and impact but also to Rutgers University’s unwavering support of his research and advocacy to eliminate health inequities,” said Jaya Satagopan, professor and associate dean for faculty affairs at the Rutgers School of Public Health.

“I am extremely honored to receive this award,” said Halkitis, who is also the Hunterdon Professor of Public Health and Health Equity. “The work that I have enacted over the course of my career for LGBTQ+ people, for those living with and affected by HIV, and for communities of color who are too often neglected by the health care system, has been with my full heart and mind.”

The award Halkitis is receiving is named after the late Helen Rodriguez-Trias, past president of the American Public Health Association and a pediatrician. Rodriguez-Trias was an inspiration and role model, who strove to meet the needs of underserved and disadvantaged populations, especially women and children. Through her work and activism, she used social justice strategies that affect change for the better.

“I never really thought about it as social justice,” he said. “I simply thought about it as the work that good scientists do who know that health science must be with and for the people whose lives we seek to improve. My work has been about democratizing and making science accessible so that those at risk can take care of their health.”

“I promise that over the remainder of my research career and my leadership roles in public health, I will continue to mentor and advocate for those who enact this kind of science, ensuring that universities place them on equal footing with all other scientists and acknowledge their accomplishments with promotion, tenure, and all other accolades,” he concludes.