Purpose Prize Winners Marilyn Gaston and Gayle Porter
By Michele Harris
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
The Purpose Prize recognizes the achievements of older social innovators who are taking on some of society’s greatest problems. In 2006, five winners won grants of $100,000 each to further the good work they have already begun. This is the third article in a series about the Purpose Prize and its awardees.
“African-American women are dying at rates that are greater than any other group of women in the nation from heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes,” says Dr. Marilyn Gaston.
“We have the highest rates of hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. We’re suffering more from these diseases and we die more often. What we’re doing is trying to impact on these statistics, especially since these deaths are preventable.”
After long and esteemed careers in medicine, Gaston and her colleague, Dr. Marilyn Porter, were determined to improve the dismal health statistics for African-American women. First, with their groundbreaking book, Prime Time: The African-American Woman’s Complete Guide to Midlife Health and Wellness, and later, with their breakthrough support program, Prime Time Sister Circles, Gaston and Porter empower women to take charge of their own health destinies. For that, they were honored with a $100,000 Purpose Prize in 2006.
Serving the underserved
As a pediatrician and public health officer, Gaston dedicated herself to improving the health of poor, underserved, and disadvantaged Americans. She is the first African-American woman to direct a Public Health Service Bureau and the second to serve as Assistant Surgeon General.
Throughout her career as a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Gayle Porter has done for the mind what Dr. Gaston was doing for the body. She was the first African-American psychologist on staff of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Child & Adolescent Child Psychiatry Department and has been a long-time proponent on the need to make mental health resources available to the poor and disadvantaged.