2024 Health Heroes Awards Bios
Featured Speaker
Kai Bird
KAI BIRD is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and journalist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2006 for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (co-authored with Martin J. Sherwin). American Prometheus is the inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s recent film, Oppenheimer. Bird is the Executive Director and Distinguished Lecturer of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. His most recent book, The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter, was published in 2021. The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames, was a New York Times best-seller. He chronicled his childhood in the Middle East in his memoir, Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis. He is the author of biographies of John J. McCloy, McGeorge Bundy, and William Bundy. His work includes critical writings on the Vietnam War, Hiroshima, Nuclear weapons, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the CIA. He won the National Books Critics Circle Award, the Duff Cooper Prize for History and is the recipient of numerous fellowships. He is an elected member of the prestigious Society of American Historians.
2024 Health Heroes Awards Recipients
Our second annual Health Heroes Awards celebrates the people who make exemplary efforts in advancing nuclear weapons abolition and/or addressing environmental risks to human health, including the catastrophic consequences caused by climate change through collaborations and work that strengthens PSR’s mission.
Environment & Health Award
Martha Dina Argüello
MARTHA DINA ARGÜELLO is the Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles.
For the past 35 years, Martha has served in the non-profit sector as an advocate, community organizer, and coalition builder. She joined PSR-LA in 1998 to launch the environmental health programs and became Executive Director in November 2007.
Martha grew up in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles. At the young age of 14, she made a lifelong commitment to effect social change after seeing her friend killed by a school security guard. While working as a health educator in the 1990s, Martha had an epiphany — she realized that although early detection can prevent death from breast cancer, it does not prevent breast cancer, which has been increasingly linked to exposure to environmental toxicants. Since that realization, Martha has dedicated her career to the environmental justice movement and has lectured nationwide on the use of precautionary principle policies.
As a coalition builder, Martha has emphasized the need for local grassroots advocacy working in partnership with statewide policy actions. She is an active board member of numerous organizations, including Californians for Pesticide Reform, the Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy, and serves on the California Air Resources Board’s Global Warming Environmental Justice Advisory Committee.
Nuclear Weapons Abolition Award
Marshallese Educational Initiative
The MARSHALLESE EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE (MEI) was established to blend scholarly research with practical outreach efforts to create national awareness while making a real difference in the lives of Marshallese. Today, our Marshallese staff serve our community through direct outreach, provide programming for youth, women, and elders, and continue to raise awareness of the ongoing consequences of nuclear testing and climate change.
Benetick Kabua Maddison is the Executive Director at the Marshallese Educational Initiative (MEI) and directs MEI’s nuclear and climate justice programming. Born on Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Maddison migrated with his family to Arkansas at the age of six. Maddison has spoken at various national and international events on nuclear and climate issues, including at the United Nations Meetings of States Parties on the TPNW, the NPT, and at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He developed MEI's Arts as Activism initiative, which helps youth express themselves about the nuclear legacy and climate change. He has led these workshops with youth groups in Arkansas and Japan, whose artwork has been displayed at venues, including at UN offices in NYC, Vienna, and Geneva. Maddison was recognized in 2023 as a Nuclear Free Future Awardee for his advocacy efforts.
Emerging Leaders Award
Medical Students for a Sustainable Future
MEDICAL STUDENTS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE (MS4SF) is a community of nearly 700 trainees across over 100 medical schools who recognize climate change is a critical obstacle to health and are inspired to catalyze action now. As future physicians advocating for their patients, MS4SF members combine the expertise of medicine with the forward-thinking spirit of students. MS4SF reflects the diverse perspectives of the medical student community and the many ways climate change intersects with health care. MS4SF equips training doctors with skills and experiences in: Advocacy, Medical Education, Research, Climate Smart Health Care, Partnerships, and Communications; while amplifying the work of the Planetary Health Report Card. MS4SF members ground themselves in this strong community and are champions for meaningful climate and health action.
Accepting the award for MS4SF are: Harleen Marwah, MD MS, Founder Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, (presently on Board of Directors), Alia Badawi, Climate Smart Health Care Co-Chair, Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, Sahar Rizwan, Communication Co-Chair, Medical Students for a Sustainable Future