Gary A. Puckrein, PHD
President and CEO

Dr. Gary A. Puckrein is the President and CEO of the National Minority Health Month Foundation, Inc. (NMHMF), a not-for-profit organization that he founded in 1998. NMHMF addresses the health needs of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans and other minorities. The goal of the NMHMF is to strengthen the capacity of local communities to eliminate the disproportionate burden of premature death and preventable illness in minority populations through prevention, early detection and control of disease complications.

Dr. Puckrein also serves as the Executive Director of the Alliance of Minority Medical Associations., a collaborative effort of the Asian and Pacific Physicians' Association, the Association of American Indian Physicians, the InterAmerican College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the National Medical Association. AMMA was formed on the basis of evidence-based data that highlight significant disparities in health care treatment plans and outcomes among many underserved populations within the United States. In April 2001, NMHMF launched National Minority Health Month (NMHM) in response to Healthy People 2010, the national health promotion and disease prevention initiative.

NMHMF has received support from a wide variety of organizations, including federal agencies, pharmaceutical companies, payors, and trade associations. With support from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the NMHMF undertook the Zip Code Analysis Project (ZCAP). ZCAP is a comprehensive database that links vital statistics, demographic, environmental, claims, prescription drug, clinical laboratory values, health care access points (e.g., hospitals or physicians offices) and other data elements into one centralized data warehouse, organized around Zip codes. ZCAP enabled the NMHMF to develop the Health Assessment Tool (HAT), which measures and forecasts health status in small geographic areas, evaluates the impact of specific interventions, monitors changes in health outcomes, and undertakes risk assessments (health care utilization and its financial implications). NMHMF uses HAT to stratify communities by common set of geographic and health status referents. NMHMF uses HAT to provide the health disparities movement with a common set of indicators - geographic and health status referents - to measure and report out progress toward achievement of the movements common objective: elimination of disparities in health care and health status.

Dr. Puckrein was graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University where he received his doctorate (1978) and masters degree (1974). Between 1974 and 1992, he taught and lectured at Roger Williams College, Brown University, Connecticut College, and Rutgers University, where he was a tenured member of the faculty. Dr. Puckrein has received many awards and honors, including being named a visiting scholar and fellow at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and a visiting fellow at Princeton University. He was publisher of American Visions, the country's leading African-American art and cultural magazine, which he launched during his tenure at the Smithsonian Institution and Rutgers University. Dr. Puckrein also created and launched Minority Health Today, which is edited to serve the needs of clinicians who practice in minority communities.