For the third time in six years, a CWRU School of Medicine alumnus has received the American Public Health Association's highest honor, the Sedgwick Memorial Medal.

The latest honoree is C. William Keck, a 1965 graduate of the medical school.

The award recognizes distinguished service in the advancement of public health knowledge and practice as an administrator, leader, educator, mentor, advocate and policy-maker.

Keck will retire March 31 after leading the Akron Health Department for 27 years. The department is recognized as Ohio's premier mid-sized city health department and one of the best in the nation. He also is associate dean and director of public health practice in the Division of Community Health Sciences at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM), where he developed a curriculum in community health.

A 30-year member of APHA, Keck has served as president, vice chair of the executive board, chair of the awards committee and as a member of the governing council, committee on affiliates, action board, the committee on women's rights and several expert panels and task forces. He is a past president of the Ohio Public Health Association, the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners and the Summit County Medical Society.

Keck is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine and is a member of several professional societies, including the American Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine, the American Association of Public Health Physicians, the National Association of City and County Health Officials and the American Medical Association.

He has received numerous major awards and honors for his contributions to the field, including the APHA's Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health Work.

Other CWRU School of Medicine alumni who have received the APHA's Sedgwick Memorial Medal include Leonard Schuman, of the Class of 1940, who was the 1996 recipient, and H. Jack Geiger, of the Class of 1958, who was the 1998 recipient.