Announcing the 2025 McGovern Award Recipient: Dr Scott Ratzan

The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) is pleased to announce this year’s John P. McGovern Award recipient, Scott Ratzan MD, MPA. The McGovern Award recognizes preeminent contribution to any of the various modes of medical communication and is presented during AMWA's Medical Writing & Communication Conference.

Dr Ratzan has had a profound impact on the field of medical communication, with a career spanning over three decades. He has spearheaded efforts to advance health communication, health literacy, and strategic diplomacy on a global scale. Dr Ratzan is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives and co-chair of the Nature Medicine Commission on Quality Health Information for All.

He has extensive experience in academia, beginning in the 1990s as a professor and Founding Director of the Emerson-Tufts Masters Program in Health Communication. Dr. Ratzan currently co-directs the Masters Program in Health Communication for Social Change at CUNY SPH and was recently recognized as a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. 

He has dedicated his career to developing innovative approaches, improving health communication efforts, and creating impactful programs. His work spans throughout the health policy field, previously working at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), co-chairing the United Nations Secretary General’s Every Woman Every Child Innovation Working Group, and serving on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Board of Scientific Counselors, Office of Infectious Disease. 

In addition to these accolades, Dr Ratzan has authored several books on health communication, including most recently Vaccine Communication in a Pandemic: Strengthening Vaccine Literacy, Restoring Trust and Engaging Communities to Foster Vaccine Confidence and Uptake. He has also been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA, Nature Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the National Academies of Medicine Perspectives.

Please join us in congratulating Dr Ratzan and celebrating his extensive contributions to the field of medical communication! He will deliver the McGovern Award Address at the 2025 Medical Writing & Communication Conference this November in Pheonix, AZ. Please visit www.amwa.org/conference to learn more about this event and register now!