ATSU-ASDOH assistant dean receives Lifetime Achievement award
Posted: April 20, 2020
A.T. Still University-Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health’s George Blue Spruce Jr., DDS, MPH, assistant dean, American Indian affairs, received the Lifetime Achievement award Monday, April 20, from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Awards for Excellence in Social Mission in Health Professions Education.
The awards were scheduled to be presented today at the 2020 Beyond Flexner conference in Phoenix. This year’s conference, co-hosted by A.T. Still University and Arizona State University’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, has been postponed to April 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An announcement about the awards was made by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University and the Beyond Flexner Alliance.
“(Dr. Blue Spruce)…the first Native American dentist in the United States, realizes that as a trailblazer he bears the responsibility of illuminating the health professions pathway for American Indian children who are unaware this path exists,” a press release said. “He has dared American Indian children to become a dentist, and his unique leadership has left a legacy of promoting social mission in health professions education.”
The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Awards recognize leadership in promoting social mission in health professions education. Awards are presented in Individual Excellence, Program Excellence, Institutional Excellence, Lifetime Achievement, and Rising Star.