2021 AMRPA Chairman's Award Winner
Representative Terri Sewell (D-AL)
United States House of Representatives
Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell is in her sixth term representing Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. She is one of the first women elected to Congress from Alabama in her own right and is the first Black woman to ever serve in the Alabama Congressional delegation.
Congresswoman Sewell sits on the exclusive House Ways and Means Committee and brings to the committee her more than 15 years of experience as a securities and public finance attorney. Currently, in the 117th Congress, she sits on three subcommittees: the Subcommittee on Health; the Subcommittee on Trade; and the Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support. This current term, she was selected by Democratic leadership to serve as a Chief Deputy Whip, and sits on the prestigious Steering and Policy Committee which sets the policy direction of the Democratic Caucus.
Congresswoman Sewell is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus where she is Co-Chair of the Voting Rights Task Force. She is a member of the New Democrat Coalition; Co-Chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus; Vice-Chair of the Congressional HBCU Caucus; and Co-Chair of the Rural Caucus. She is an honors graduate of Princeton University and Oxford University in England and received her law degree from Harvard Law School.
2020 AMRPA Chairman's Award Winner
Alison Cernich, PhD, ABPP-Cn, Deputy Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
Dr. Alison Cernich is the Deputy Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health. As Deputy Director, Dr. Cernich assists the Director in overseeing the Institute’s programs supporting research on child development, developmental biology, nutrition, AIDS/HIV, intellectual and developmental disabilities, population health, reproductive biology, contraception, pregnancy, and medical rehabilitation. Prior to this position, Dr. Cernich was the Director of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) at NICHD.
In her history of public service, she worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense on issues related to traumatic brain injury and psychological health and was a liaison between the two Departments to inform the prevention, care, and long-term follow-up services needed by service members and veterans with these diagnoses.