- September 19, 2025
- By School of Public Health Staff
A University of Maryland professor who has devoted his career to environmental health and justice is one of two recipients of the annual Heinz Award for the Environment, which comes with a cash award of $250,000.
The Heinz Family Foundation recognized School of Public Health Professor Sacoby M. Wilson, for his “scholar activism, his commitment to addressing the burden of environmental, climate and energy injustices on vulnerable populations, and his deep concern for humanity,” said Teresa Heinz, chair of the foundation. The Heinz Awards celebrate excellence and achievement in areas of great importance to the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz.
“A tireless and passionate advocate for those suffering from the physical, social and mental impacts of pollution and toxic exposures,” Heinz said. Wilson “is deploying his expertise as a public health scientist to create a future in which everyone has equal access to clean air, water and land.”
Wilson is a professor in the Department of Global, Environmental and Occupational Health, where he founded and directs The Health, Environmental and Economic Justice (T.H.E. EJ) Lab.
His work combines scholarship, science and community engagement to confront practices and policies that harm people in frontline and fenceline communities—neighborhoods located near polluting facilities. He has investigated how industrial practices, pollution and climate change disproportionately affect the health of people of color and residents of low-income neighborhoods. He also continuously works to empower communities to achieve justice.
“My work deploys science of the people, for the people and by the people,” Wilson said. “It is built on trust, respect, transparency and open communication and uplifts the principle of representative justice. It’s about applied, action-oriented science for justice and social change.”
This article has been adapted from a Heinz Foundation news release.