Dr. Gilbert H. Friedell, right, with NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark, receives the 2011 Rhoda G. International Sarnat Award for Advancing the Public Understanding of the Social Work Profession.
NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark presented Dr. Gilbert H. Friedell with the 2011 Rhoda G. International Sarnat Award for Advancing the Public Understanding of the Social Work Profession. Friedell received the award in November at a ceremony held at the NASW Washington, D.C., office.
“I am very proud to accept this,” he said at the event.
Friedell has devoted the majority of his career as a physician to pursuing the treatment of chronic illnesses, and is most known for his work in the field of cancer. He developed the Community-Based Research in Eastern Kentucky program to encourage young people interested in the health and social work fields to have a chance to work and study in Eastern Kentucky.
Friedell also recently founded the Friedell Committee on Health Systems Transformation, a grassroots organization located in Kentucky. The organization is citizen-based and dedicated to improving the health of Kentuckians through advocacy and community outreach. Although officially retired, Friedell remains active in pursuing social work advocacy and developing new opportunities for social workers both in Kentucky and across the United States.
Social Work Pioneers® host annual meeting
The NASW Social Work Pioneers® hosted its Seventh Annual Program and Luncheon in October in Washington, D.C. Betsy Vourlekis, co-chair of the Pioneer Steering Committee, joined NASW President Jeane Anastas in welcoming the guests, who traveled from across the U.S.
Washington, D.C., Councilman Tommy Wells, Ward 6, was the morning speaker at the event. Wells, who has an MSW and is an NASW member, spoke on “Social Work Leadership in Helping to Meet Societal Needs in Changing Times.”
The afternoon speaker was Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, director of Coverage Policy at the Office of Health Care Reform for the Department of Health and Human Services. She spoke about health care reform and major aspects of the Affordable Care Act. She also explained some of the challenges the department faces in implementing the ACA by 2024. For more information, visit NASW Foundation.
NASW journals to be published by Oxford
Starting this year, the NASW Press journals “Social Work,” “Children & Schools,” “Health & Social Work,” and “Social Work Research” will be produced by Oxford Journals, a division of Oxford University Press. Control of editorial and peer-review processes will remain entirely with NASW Press. The transition from in-house to Oxford production will provide NASW journal content with a larger platform for penetration into diverse markets, allowing the scholarly work that NASW publishes to reach larger audiences across the globe.
NASW Press to publish ‘Social Work Matters’ book
As part of Social Work Month in March, the NASW Press will publish “Social Work Matters: The Power of Linking Practice and Policy,” edited by Elizabeth F. Hoffler, special assistant to the executive director of NASW, and Elizabeth J. Clark, executive director of NASW.
With more than 40 chapters written by experts in the field, “Social Work Matters” brings home the truth embodied in its title for practitioners and researchers in a comprehensive range of settings. At heart, the book argues that social work matters because the profession is absolutely necessary to the healthy functioning of society.
The chapters that Hoffler and Clark have gathered portray what different kinds of social workers do on a daily basis, opening up the world of practice—in all its intensity and gravity—so that the profession can be appreciated on an unprecedentedly intimate level.
In addition, chapter authors link the traditional, direct practice side of social work with critical policy and advocacy components of the profession.