June 1, 2000
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Dr. Sandral Hullett, executive director of Family Health Care of Alabama in Eutaw, has been selected to receive the 2000 Public Health Hero Award. Hullett is the first recipient of the award, presented by the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in recognition of public health efforts to improve and protect the health of Alabamians.
The award, a plaque and $1,000, will be presented to Hullett at the school's honors convocation on Friday, June 2, at 2 p.m. at the Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham. The award is funded by the Hill Crest Foundation.
The school received 19 nominations for the award. "I was humbled to learn about what people are doing on the front lines that affects the lives of so many people — people, who in many cases, they will never see or know," says Dr. Eli Capilouto, dean of the School of Public Health at UAB.
Hullett was nominated by friends and colleagues for her work as a family physician to provide compassionate patient care to people living in Alabama's rural, impoverished Black Belt communities. She also has been instrumental in developing and implementing public health programs to promote better health and disease prevention in the communities she serves.
"By every measure, Dr. Hullett's work is heroic," says Thomas Meredith, chancellor of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. "While others observe and assess, she is a hands-on agent of change who has seen critical needs and devised effective solutions. I cannot think of a more deserving honoree than this healer, scholar and activist who has devoted her life to the cause of public health."
She serves as project director and principal investigator for grants funded by numerous organizations, including the National Cancer Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and the Ford Foundation.
A graduate of Alabama A&M University in Huntsville and the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Hullett received her board certification in family practice from the College of Community Health Services at the University of Alabama. She also holds a master's of public health from UAB. She serves as a member of the board of trustees of the University of Alabama and is an advocate for students, actively involved in recruiting students for careers in rural medicine.