Two Rutgers School of Public Health faculty members have been recognized among the university’s most distinguished scholars, earning 2025–2026 Faculty Year-End Excellence Awards from Rutgers University.
Michael Anestis, professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health and executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, received the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research, which honors tenured faculty members who have made distinguished research contributions to their discipline and/or society at large.
Olivia Wackowski, associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy, and member of the Institute for Nicotine & Tobacco Studies at Rutgers Health, received the Presidential Outstanding Faculty Scholar Award, which honors tenured faculty members whose breadth of academic portfolios reflects outstanding research, scholarship, or creative work, as well as truly outstanding contributions to teaching, along with extensive service to the Rutgers community and beyond.
Presented annually by Rutgers, the Faculty Year-End Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding contributions across teaching, research, and service. Recipients are nominated by their peers and selected through a competitive, university-wide process.
“As public health researchers, we must always lead with humanity, centering people,” said Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health. “Drs. Anestis and Wackowski exemplify these ideals through their people-centered scholarship. Their recognition at the university level reflects not only their individual excellence, but the innovation and impact of our entire school.”
