The International Health Literacy Association (IHLA) will present the Andrew Pleasant Award for Lifetime Service to the Health Literacy Community to researcher and advocate Cindy Brach at the 2024 Global Health Literacy Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands on September 18th.
Brach spent much of her career at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS), where she led the agency’s efforts to develop and promote tools, policies, and programs designed to help integrate health literacy into the operations of healthcare delivery systems.
“Cindy’s dedication to health literacy is second to none,” said Howard Koh, MD, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Her tireless work to ensure it has increasingly become built into all levels of the healthcare system for the benefit of patients, caregivers, and clinicians alike is a true cornerstone of our field.”
Brach authored, co-authored, or commissioned numerous, innovative health literacy programs that are regarded as foundational in efforts to make healthcare easier to understand and use, particularly for those with low health literacy. Health literacy is defined by DHSS as “the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.”
Among her prominent contributions is the Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, a resource intended to help healthcare delivery organizations communicate more effectively with patients. In use for over a decade and now in its 3rd edition, the toolkit includes practical resources, guidance, materials, and strategies to help reduce the complexity of healthcare and support patient decision-making.
Brach also co-chaired U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Literacy Workgroup, a collaborative network of staff committed to ensuring health literacy remains a focus across the U.S. government’s many health and healthcare-related agencies.
Other notable contributions in Brach’s career include:
Tools to assess how well patients can understand communication and education materials (PEMAT)
Clear direction for healthcare organizations who wish to integrate health literacy into all elements of their operations (10 Attributes of a Health-Literate Organization)
Training modules to help hospitals and clinicians improve informed consent so people better understand the potential benefits and harms of treatments (Making Informed Consent an Informed Choice)
“I’m so happy Cindy is being recognized at the IHLA Summit this year,” said Catina O’Leary, Ph.D., President and CEO of Health Literacy Media and IHLA Secretary General. “It’s impossible to overstate her contribution to making healthcare more accessible and understandable for everyone, and to see her work appreciated in this way is fantastic.” “Her enthusiasm, vision, and hard work really have been transformative,” O’Leary added.
Now retired, Brach recently reflected on her career on the Health Literacy Out Loud podcast series. She discussed the evolution she’s seen in the field of health literacy, moving from a focus on the abilities of individual patients to a more systemic approach that recognizes the responsibility of healthcare organizations to engage patients through better communication, transparency in costs, and meeting the needs of diverse patients through culturally competent care.
“Health literacy and health equity have converged into a common set of goals,” said IHLA President Kristine Sørensen. “Our focus on ensuring fair and just opportunities to be healthy for everyone is really built on Cindy’s work,” she added.
The award is named in honor of the health literacy leader and scholar Andrew Pleasant.
IHLA is a non-governmental, not-for-profit, member-based organization dedicated to creating an international voice for health literacy and raising awareness world-wide. Its membership is comprised of professionals in clinical healthcare, healthcare delivery systems, the biopharma industry, research, and education.
Contact: Catina O’Leary, Ph.D.
Health Literacy Media
(314) 361-9400
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