PFRH’s Patricia Waddy Wins Excellence in Practice Award
Congratulations to PFRH’s Patricia Waddy, recipient of a 2024 Bloomberg School of Public Health Staff Excellence in Baltimore Public Health Practice award. These awards, given by the BSPH Office of Public Health Practice and Training, recognize faculty, staff and students that meet public health challenges head-on, “tackling them with innovation and determination, and helping to build healthier, safer, more equitable communities here in Baltimore, across the nation and globally.”
Patricia began her career at Johns Hopkins in 1975 and has served as the Johns Hopkins WIC Program Coordinator since 1995. The WIC program provides healthy supplemental foods and nutrition counseling for pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children under age five. The Johns Hopkins WIC program assists women and children through practice, research, and community engagement, operating in 12 sites, Head Start centers, and shelters across Baltimore City. In Patricia’s tenure as Program Coordinator, the program has expanded steadily. Johns Hopkins WIC currently serves nearly 9,000 participants.
The Excellence in Public Health Practice award was awarded to Patricia in recognition of her work with Baltimore’s International Rescue Committee (IRC). She worked with IRC to create a streamlined referral system for newly arrived Baltimore refugees and immigrant women, infants and children to begin their WIC enrollment. Patricia’s collaboration with the IRC improved access to essential services for hundreds of eligible Baltimore immigrants and refugees.
When asked about this recognition, Patricia reflected,
“It is an honor to be recognized by my peers. Over the years, I have gained great satisfaction from assisting participants in their development through the WIC Program. While it is not necessary for me to be out in the front, my fulfillment comes from the success of the program, which has been my life’s greatest work. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the community."
About WIC
WIC is a federally funded program that provides healthy supplemental healthy food, nutrition guidance and breastfeeding support, and facilitates referrals to medical and social services for pregnant women, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants and children under age five. The program has an extraordinary 50-year record of preventing children’s health problems and improving their long-term health, growth and development. The prototype for the National WIC Program was designed and piloted at the then-Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and adopted nationally by Congress in 1974. Learn more about the Johns Hopkins WIC program in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health.
