When a leader dedicated to migration health earns national recognition, it reflects years of collaborative work that has transformed care for communities across the country.
Dr. Beth Dawson-Hahn, a longtime Migration Health Initiative (MHI) collaborator and leader, has been selected as one of the Obama Foundation’s USA Leaders for 2025-2026. The prestigious program supports 100 U.S.-based leaders as they develop the leadership and civic engagement skills to accelerate positive and lasting change in their communities.
The Obama Foundation celebrated Dr. Dawson-Hahn for her work as a professor, clinician, medical advisor, and qualitative researcher who centers the health needs of children and families impacted by migration. Her approach combines rigorous research with deep community engagement, ensuring that migrant voices shape the programs designed to serve them.
Transforming migration health through research and leadership
Dr. Dawson-Hahn has served as an strategic advisor to MHI and as the lead of MHI’s qualitative team since 2020. Under her leadership, the qualitative team conducted more than 200 interviews across public health, social services, and community groups to ensure our toolkits, health education portfolio, workforce development reflected migrant communities’ needs.
Her work has contributed to more than 80 promising practices and numerous publications that organizations around the country have used to replicate successful programs and improve care for refugees, immigrants, and migrants.
As a strategic advisor, Dr. Dawson-Hahn has guided MHI through critical decisions and partnerships. She co-led the work of MHI’s community leadership board and served as a technical expert for MHI’s collaborations with the International Rescue Committee and the International Organization for Migration, helping to bridge research, policy, and practice.
Looking ahead
Over the next several months, Dr. Dawson-Hahn will join 99 other leaders for weekly virtual sessions on values-based leadership, monthly communities of practice, and individual leadership coaching. We’re proud to celebrate her well-deserved recognition and look forward to the insights and strengthened leadership she will bring back to our collaborative work in migration health.
Learn more at https://www.obama.org/programs/leaders/usa/.