Awards

School of Public Health W.W. Patty Distinguished Alumni Award - 1998

About Laura Kann

Since 1987, Laura Kann has worked in the Division of Adolescent and School Health, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Currently, she heads the Surveillance and Evaluation Research Branch as the Distinguished Consultant and Chief. With interests in domestic and international school-based survey research, Kann manages the Youth Risk Behaviors Surveillance System, which monitors health-risk behaviors and the prevalence of obesity and asthma among youth and young adults; the School Health Policies and Practices Study, a periodic national survey which assesses school health policies and practices at the state, district, school, and classroom levels; School Health Profiles, a biennial survey of middle and high school principals and health education teachers in states, large urban school districts, territories, and tribal governments; and the Global School-based Student Health Survey, which was developed by the World Health Organization to provide data on health behaviors among 13- to 15-year-old students.

She earned her bachelor's degree in school health and safety education in 1982 and her master’s degree in health education in 1983 from the University of Illinois. Also, Kann received her doctoral degree in health behavior from Indiana University in 1987. Throughout her career, she has been a co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed journal publications, as well as numerous CDC publications and peer-reviewed national and international conference presentations and posters. She is a past president of the American School Health Association. For her many achievements, Kann has received more than three dozen awards, including the Division of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the W.W. Patty Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University, the CDC Honor Award, and the Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association’s Maternal and Child Health Section.