Posted on June 22, 2001 at 9:00 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Charles White, Jr., of Mobile, Alabama, has been named Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The award, along with a gift of $1,000, was presented to White during the school’s convocation ceremonies held recently in Birmingham.

White received his master’s in public health degree from UAB in 1981. In 1982, he established the Franklin Memorial Primary Health Center, a network of comprehensive primary care clinics that provides medical care to residents of Mobile and Baldwin counties, particularly those in under served communities.

“For decades this country has wrestled, usually unsuccessfully, with policies designed to make health care services available to under served individuals,” says Dr. Eli Capilouto, dean of the UAB School of Public Health. “Mr. White did not wait for new policies; he rolled up his sleeves and did something about it.”

Today, the Franklin Primary Health Center is an $11.6 million medical practice consisting of 11 primary care clinics. It employees 185 staff members, including 17 full-time physicians, who provide medical services to nearly 100,000 area residents. Center programs include drug treatment and HIV/AIDS programs as well as a program designed to serve the area’s homeless population.

“It is our dream that our graduates will go forth, applying the knowledge imparted to them during their time with us, to improve the health of their fellow citizens,” says Capilouto. “Mr. White is a dream come true.”