THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Judy Lewis

“Our rights are continuously endangered. The work is never done.” 

Public health sociologist on the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center for over 50 years.  Professor Emeritus of Public Health Sciences and Pediatrics.  Founding member and president of the Global Health Education Consortium, Board President CORE Group, Founder and Board Chair of Women and Health Together for the Future, President of Grand’Anse Health and Development Association, Secretary Afghan Female Student Outreach, President University of Iowa Honors Program Advisory Committee. Authored, “The Health of Women/Mothers and Children,” in Understanding Global Medicine and Health, as well as articles about maternal newborn and child health in Haiti, Ecuador and Sri Lanka, and non-government organizations in global health. Worked in 50 countries conducting research, program evaluations and training. Received the Carl E. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Health Section of the American Public Health Association, honoring the visionaries and leaders who have shaped the direction of international health.

Interviewed by Mary-Ann Lupa, VFA Secretary, March 2025 

Photo 1. Judy at the Mary Hooker School, the model for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded Model School Health Project in Hartford, Connecticut, 1978. Photo 2. Judy and Stuart Sakovich’s wedding photo, Kandy, Sri Lanka 1987. Photo 3. The Network Nepal: Toward Unity for Health annual conference in Ayutthaya, Thailand, 2010.