David Satcher is this year's recipient of the Institute of Medicine's Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health. Consisting of a medal and $20,000, the prize is being presented today at the IOM's annual meeting.

The Sarnat Prize is given to Satcher in recognition of the impact of his unique and outstanding national contributions to the area of mental health. Satcher served as Surgeon General of the United States from February 1998 to February 2002, and is currently director of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. His efforts as Surgeon General advanced public understanding of mental illness and established mental health as an important topic for national health policy. He was the first person in this office to release a report on mental health, Mental Health: Report of the Surgeon General. This groundbreaking report increased public awareness of the fundamentals of mental illnesses and the barriers to treatment. Other reports that addressed specific issues followed: National Action Agenda for Children's Mental Health; Mental Illness: Culture, Race and Ethnicity; Youth Violence; and Call to Action to Prevent Suicide. Each of these efforts moved discussion of mental health and mental illness into the public arena and stimulated new efforts to improve mental health care.

Satcher received his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He did residency/fellowship training at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, UCLA, and King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles. Satcher served on the faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine and Public Health and the King-Drew Medical Center. He went on to become professor and Chairman of the Department of Community Medicine and Family Practice at Morehouse School of Medicine and President of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. He held the posts of Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry just prior to his term as Surgeon General of the United States from 1998 to 2002. In the fall of 2002, he became director of the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine.