The Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B) will gather at 5 p.m. next Wednesday, October 8 in Alumni Hall at the Indiana Memorial Union for their annual Awards Gala, an elegant and joyful event to honor:
- SPH-B faculty who won 2025 Indiana University Trustees Teaching Awards
- SPH-B alumni selected as this year's Distinguished Alumni Award winners
- Students who received 2025–26 SPH-B scholarships and fellowships
- SPH-B faculty who most recently received 2025 SPH-B awards for outstanding service to school, students, and research
SPH-B is pleased to present the Distinguished Alumni Awards to the following esteemed public health professionals for “their exceptional achievements and service.”
Kathy Schniedwind, who earned an M.S. in physical education with an emphasis in athletic training from IU, will receive the Anita Aldrich Distinguished Alumni Award for "career achievements to promote the success of girls and women in public health education and science." Schniedwind is a trailblazing athletic trainer and educator whose career has significantly shaped athletic training, gender equity in sports medicine, and student mentorship. In 1976, she became the first female athletic trainer in the Women’s Athletic Department at Illinois State University.
After the men’s and women’s departments merged in 1982, she was appointed co–head athletic trainer, and in 1989 became head athletic trainer for all sports, including football—the first woman in that role at ISU. She played a crucial role in professionalizing athletic training, designing training facilities, and advocating for high standards in athlete care and student training. A dedicated mentor, Schniedwind taught athletic training labs and seminars, and participated in professional mentoring programs. She is a Hall of Fame inductee of the Illinois Athletic Trainers Association (1996), National Athletic Trainers Association (2004), Illinois State Athletics (2008), and West Springfield High School (2016). In 2025, she received the Gail Weldon Award for Mentoring, Professional Advancement, and Improving Women’s Health Care from NATA.
At Wednesday’s event, Dr. John Schrader will be honored with the John R. Endwright Alumni Service Award, which recognizes individuals for their “outstanding service and contributions” in service of the school’s mission. A clinical professor emeritus at the School of Public Health-Bloomington, Dr. Schrader has built a distinguished career advancing the fields of athletic training, sports medicine, and rehabilitation. He earned his H.S.D. from IU and has been an authoritative resource on injury prevention, conditioning, and rehabilitation in both athletic and performing-arts populations.
Throughout his career, Dr. Schrader has received numerous honors reflecting his national leadership and sustained contribution to the profession. He is a licensed and nationally certified athletic trainer, an inductee of the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash award, one of Indiana’s highest civic honors, recognizing his impact on the field and broader community. His work has informed clinical best practices for athletic trainers and allied health professionals and has been incorporated into educational programs that prepare the next generation of practitioners.
Asghar Gharakhani will receive the David L. Gallahue Champion Alumni Award, established to honor alumni who make "significant and sustained contributions in the advancement of health equities." Gharakhani, who holds an M.S. from IU, is an academic specialist in the Office of Global & Community Health Partnerships at Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington. His work reflects many decades of dedication to building bridges between academic public health and the communities it serves, both locally and globally. Throughout his tenure, Mr. Gharakhani has played a central role in coordinating leadership development and community engagement initiatives. One of his core responsibilities has been as coordinator of the Leadership Series Courses, which prepare students and faculty for effective leadership in public health and allied fields.
Beyond curriculum development, he has supported many global health partnerships by facilitating collaborative work, establishing international ties, and fostering experiential learning opportunities for public health students. His presence has helped ensure continuity and integrity in global and community health programming, and his career illustrates what it means to be a champion for students, global partnerships, and the school alike.
Yen-Han Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences in the College of Health Professions and Sciences at the University of Central Florida, will receive the Tony A. Mobley International Distinguished Alumni Award for "outstanding personal and professional achievements in fostering the broad missions of public health." Dr. Lee holds a doctorate in health behavior from IU. Early in his career, he developed strong expertise in health policy evaluation and access to healthcare services, and more recently has expanded his research to incorporate rigorous secondary data analyses of social behavioral determinants of health. Dr. Lee’s current research work focuses largely on substance use behaviors, as well as lifestyle factors among older adults linked to chronic conditions such as obesity, sleep disorders, and cognitive impairment.
In addition to his research, Dr. Lee contributes to the scientific community through editorial services. He serves on the editorial boards of several highly visible journals indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index and his scholarship has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals. With a strong foundation from Indiana University, he has advanced in his early career to address urgent public health issues such as substance use, aging, disparities, and health policy with scholarly excellence and international relevance.
The W.W. Patty Distinguished Alumni Award, the school's oldest honor, is awarded annually to alumni who "have demonstrated outstanding personal and professional achievement in fostering the wide ranging missions of public health that include but are not limited to evidence-based approaches to public health science, public health and health care systems, planning and management to promote health, policy in public health, leadership, communication, interprofessional practice and systems thinking." This distinction will go to Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, a professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, faculty member of the Center for Community Health and Aging (CCHA) and the Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research (CHEER), and director of the Texas Research, Analytics, Innovations, and Evaluation Lab (TRAIL). He holds a B.S. and M.P.H. from IU.
Dr. Smith, a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Health Behavior, is a nationally recognized scholar whose work focuses on preventive strategies and evidence-based programs that promote healthy aging. He has secured more than $97 million in research funding and has been instrumental in advancing programs such as the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, Otago Exercise Program, and A Matter of Balance. A Certified Health Education Specialist, he is widely recognized for his contributions in research, leadership, and mentorship.
The Mohammad R. Torabi Early Career Outstanding Alumni Award—for “notable achievement in public health community outreach and engagement"—will be presented to Dr. Dae Hee Han, assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. He earned his Ph.D. in health behavior from IU. Prior to his faculty appointment, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Dr. Han’s research focuses on behavioral epidemiology, particularly on substance use and tobacco control in youth and young adult populations. His work seeks to understand how emerging substance-use products, regulatory changes, and shifting market landscapes affect initiation, progression, and transitions among vulnerable groups. He employs advanced methodological tools, including both individual- and population-level analytic frameworks, to bridge behavioral data with policy analysis, thus informing prevention and regulation.
Dr. Han has published multiple peer-reviewed articles in high-impact journals, including recent work on flavors in e-cigarettes, patterns of initiation and progression of vaping, and transitions between nicotine and cannabis use. His early career achievements already include significant contributions to tobacco control science, mentoring students, and service to academic and policy-oriented communities.
Top, L–R: Agley, Cooperman, Del Rio, Eastman-Mueller
The evening will also honor the most recent SPH-B recipients of the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Awards. This honor is presented annually by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs (VPFAA) to faculty members across the IU Bloomington campus "who have had a positive impact on student learning, especially undergraduates." This year's winners from our school are Jon Agley, Ph.D.; Erin Cooperman, J.D., M.P.H.; Michelle Del Rio, Ph.D.; Heather Eastman-Mueller, Ph.D.; Kathy Finley, M.S.; Debby Herbenick, Ph.D.; Ann Huntoon, M.S.; Julie Knapp, Ph.D.; Molly Rosenberg, Ph.D.; Dong-Chul Seo, Ph.D.; and Angie Wong, M.S.
Top, L-R: Beeker, Ramos
Bottom: Kawata, Greene
And as it does every year, the school will pay tribute to SPH-B Faculty Award winners across a variety of categories. This year's honorees are Charles Beeker, M.A., Career Teaching Award; Bill Ramos, Ph.D., Distinguished Service Award; Keisuke Kawata, Ph.D., Outstanding Senior Researcher Award; and Alison Greene, Ph.D., Outstanding Early Scholar Award.
To support SPH-B initiatives including scholarships, please visit go.iu.edu/support-sphb. For more news about the School of Public Health-Bloomington, visit go.iu.edu/48bx.