Dean Linda McCauley, RN, PhD, dean and professor of Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, has been named the 2016 recipient of the Charles R. Hatcher, Jr., MD Award for Excellence in Public Health.

The award, which was established by the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in 1996, honors faculty members of Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center who through their lifetime of work, exemplify excellence in public health. McCauley will be the second nurse to receive this prestigious award in 20 years.

Dean McCauley, is very deserving of this honor,” says Jim W. Curran, MD, MPH, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health. “In addition to her leadership at the School of Nursing and maintaining its commitment to global health and social responsibility, she has also advanced research and thought leadership in the areas of public health, environmental health and occupational health.” 

For more than 25 years, McCauley has conducted interdisciplinary research focused on occupational and environmental studies. Her research has also resulted in a powerful body of work that has influenced health policy on the risk of exposure to pesticides and measures to reduce the probability of exposure in pregnant women and children. These policy changes include changing the regulation and safety standards around two dangerous organophosphate pesticides.