The winners of the 2003 College of Public Health Outstanding Alumni Awards are:

Richard C. Breon, president and chief executive officer, Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Breon earned an MA in Hospital and Health Administration in 1980 and has held numerous health care executive positions over more than 20 years in the field. Throughout his career, he has been active in teaching and mentoring health management students. Breon also served as president of the Department of Health Management and Policy’s Alumni Board during 2001-02, and led the department’s successful 50th Anniversary Campaign.

James D. Leeper, chairman, Department of Community and Rural Medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Leeper earned an M.S. degree in biostatistics in 1974 and a Ph.D. degree in biostatistics in 1977. He was awarded the American Public Health Association’s Statistics Section Award in 1994 and the University of Alabama recognized him with an Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award in 1995. Leeper was a charter member of the College of Public Health’s Board of Advisors. He completed his term on the board in December 2002.

Susan L. Slager, research associate, Division of Biostatistics, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Slager earned an M.S. degree in biostatistics in 1994 and a Ph.D. in biostatistics in 1999. During 1997-99, she was a predoctoral fellow with the National Institute of Mental Health. She held a postdoctoral research fellowship at Columbia University from 1999-2000, followed by a second postdoctoral fellowship in 2000-01 at the Mayo Clinic. In 2002, Slager was awarded a National Institutes of Health Career Development Award for her work on statistical genetics methods for cancer gene studies.