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Simmons President Named As One Of 100 People Who Have Influenced Hispanic Community In Massachusetts

BOSTON (December 7, 2006) — Simmons College President Susan C. Scrimshaw has been named one of the top 100 people in Massachusetts who have influenced the Hispanic community in 2006.

Scrimshaw was among those named at the Dec. 7 "Powermeter 2006" event in Boston hosted by El Planeta, the largest Spanish language newspaper in New England. El Planeta officials said Scrimshaw was named because of her passion about education, and her awareness and support of the Hispanic population in Massachusetts.

Scrimshaw, internationally recognized in the field of public health and improving the health of diverse populations, became president of Simmons College in July 2006. She was formerly dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her research and advocacy has focused on access to health and health services in Hispanic and African American communities in the United States and Latin America.

Among her many honors, Scrimshaw was past president of the board of directors of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science, and was awarded a gold medal as a Hero of Public Health by President Vincent Fox of Mexico.

Scrimshaw was raised in Guatemala until age 16, when she and her family returned to the Boston area where her father chaired the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at MIT.