Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award
ACHI’s Health Policy Board established the Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award in honor of the late Dr. Tom Bruce, a national leader in community health and a champion of rural health and health system improvement in Arkansas. The annual award honors an individual — or individuals — who embodies Dr. Bruce’s lifetime of service by demonstrating courageous leadership and a sustained record of being a catalyst for improving the health of all Arkansans, and who exemplifies ACHI’s core values of trust, commitment, innovation, and initiative.
Dr. Bruce was dean of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine for a decade and a pioneer in the field of community-based public health. He was also the inaugural dean of the College of Public Health at UAMS and dean pro tem of the Clinton School of Public Service. Dr. Bruce is remembered for improving and expanding the College of Medicine and addressing a shortage of physicians in Arkansas’s rural areas through the formation of Area Health Education Centers, which bring physician trainees to less-populated areas of the state. He and his wife, Dolores, also paved the way for the establishment of ACHI through a seed donation.
Honorees
Jon Swanson
2022
Dr. Betty Lowe
2022
Dr. David L. Williams III
2021
Dr. James E. Zini
2020
Kathy Grisham
2020
Amy L. Rossi
2019
Dr. Kent Westbrook
2018
Ben E. Owens Sr
2018
Dr. Joycelyn Elders
2017
Dr. Joseph H. Bates
2016