The University of Iowa College of Public Health is recognizing four leaders whose contributions across a range of disciplines are helping to promote better health and prevent disease throughout the state of Iowa.

The 2014 Iowa Public Health Heroes Awards will be presented to Karen Crimmings of Manly, Iowa, head of the Division of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health; Ronald Eckoff, M.D., of Cumming, Iowa, retired medical director for the Division of Health Promotion, Prevention, and Addictive Behaviors at the Iowa Department of Public Health and member of Iowa’s Public Health Advisory Council; Binnie LeHew of Des Moines, head of the Iowa Department of Public Health Office of Disability, Injury, and Violence Prevention; and Laurie Zelnio, director of Environment, Product Safety, Standards and Energy/Climate for Deere & Company.

The award recipients, who were nominated by their peers in the Iowa public health practice community, will be honored at the 15th annual Iowa Public Health Practice Colloquium, “Putting the Pieces Together: Leveraging Your Organization’s Assets for Performance Improvement.” The colloquium will be held Tuesday, Oct. 7, in Iowa City.