The Mental Health, Epidemiology and Applied Statistics sections of the American Public Health Association have selected Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H., FACE, for the Rema Lapouse Award for Achievement in Epidemiology, Mental Health and Applied Public Health Statistics.
Established in 1972, the Rema Lapouse Award is given to an outstanding psychiatric epidemiology scientist in recognition of “significant contributions to the scientific understanding of the epidemiology and control of mental disorders.”
“She is truly one of the treasures of our field and is well deserving of joining the group of distinguished awardees,” said nominator Catherine Woodstock Striley, Ph.D., MSW, MPE, an associate professor in the UF department of epidemiology.
Cottler, the dean’s professor of epidemiology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions and the College of Medicine and PHHP’s associate dean for research, is an internationally recognized expert in psychiatric epidemiology. She is known for developing reliable, widely used assessments for substance use and other psychiatric disorders in the general population, and for her contribution to the nosology of substance abuse and dependence, especially in critical areas such as prescription drugs, club drugs, inhalants, cocaine and marijuana, and gambling disorder.
“She has also made a lasting impact through the development of effective methods in community-based efforts to reduce high risk behaviors associated with HIV and other STDs, substance abuse, and other comorbidities, and most recently, funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase vaccinations among minority populations,” Striley said.
Cottler, the director of community engagement for the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, is the founding director of HealthStreet, a community engagement program that assesses needs and concerns of community members in order to improve their access to research and medical and social services. She also directs the National Drug Early Warning System, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, to monitor emerging drugs and their harmful consequences. She has published more than 300 articles and chapters, has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1989, and is the recipient of numerous awards for her research and mentoring.
“It is hard to measure Dr. Cottler’s impact on the field,” said Striley, the deputy director of UF HealthStreet. “When she is asked what she is most proud of, she says the contributions her team has made for outcomes that matter to the community. She is also proud of the more than 90 predoctoral, postdoctoral and K-award fellow she has mentored who are making important contributions to their field.”
Cottler will present her Rema Lapouse Award lecture, “WWRLD? What Would Rema Lapouse Do?” at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Denver on Monday, Oct. 25, from 2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. MDT.