New Fellowship Spotlights Public Health Advocates

The Mesa Refuge is very pleased to announce the formation of the May and Jack Elinson Public Health Fellowship, which honors the legacy of public health advocates May and Jack Elinson, parents of Mesa Refuge alum and Board President, Elaine Elinson.

Kathy Ko Chin is the fellowship’s first recipient.

Executive Director Susan Page Tillett said, “This new fellowship allows the Mesa Refuge to focus a much-needed spotlight on the critical issues of public health, which are so strongly interwoven in our commitment to equity. Kathy Ko Chin, the inaugural fellow, embodies the Elinsons’ dedication to  healthcare, particularly in the challenging areas of immigration, race and privilege.”

May Elinson served as a public health nutritionist in the Prenatal and Family Planning Clinic at Martland Hospital in Newark, New Jersey (now the NJ College of Medicine). With compassion and skill, she helped high-risk mothers provide a healthier diet for themselves and better lives for their babies. She taught the importance of nutrition to medical students and home health care workers, and testified before the State Commission on Hunger. Elaine Elinson said, “Our Mom believed strongly in science being used to advance health benefits for the most vulnerable in our society—and she put that into practice every day.”

May and Jack Elinson

Dr. Jack Elinson was a pioneer in the field of medical sociology.  A passionate advocate for racial equality and deeply curious about the impact of social inequities on health, Dr. Elinson was the founder of Columbia University’s Department of Sociomedical Sciences, the first in the country.  He was the first social scientist on the faculty of the School of Public Health (then part of Columbia’s Medical School). “When our Dad asked the med school librarian to order books that focused on the issues of race and poverty in America, the librarian refused,” Elinson said, “claiming those works had nothing to do with medicine. So he had to order them from the undergraduate library! I know he would be particularly thrilled about the kind of work that residents at the Mesa Refuge will be writing!”

The May and Jack Elinson Fellowship, with funding provided by the Elinson family, is awarded to residents whose work reflects a commitment to identifying social inequities in our health care system and seeking solutions providing excellent health care to all.