Washington, D.C. — September 22, 2025 — The Heinz Family Foundation announced recently Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Ph.D., a nationally recognized environmental health scientist and environmental justice advocate, as one of six recipients of the prestigious 30th Heinz Award for the Environment. As part of the accolade, Dr. Wilson will receive a $250,000 unrestricted cash award.
Dr. Wilson is honored for his pioneering work at the intersection of scholarship, science, and grassroots organizing, which confronts policies and practices that disproportionately harm frontline and fenceline communities, neighborhoods located near polluting facilities. For more than 25 years, he has advanced community science, championed equity in public health, and empowered residents to achieve justice in the face of systemic environmental disparities.
Dr. Wilson is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health INpowering Communities (CEEJH INC), a nonprofit advancing community-led advocacy, education, training, and policymaker engagement. Under his leadership, CEEJH INC has become a national force for environmental and health equity, awarding mini-grants and equipping communities with scientific tools to confront the impacts of climate change. In addition to his nonprofit leadership, Dr. Wilson is also a professor in the Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, where he founded and directs The Health, Environmental and Economic Justice (T.H.E. EJ) Lab. Visit us here to learn more about Dr. Wilson’s background and career.
“For generations, people of color and low-income communities have been marginalized and invisibilized, their neighborhoods used as dumping grounds for industrial hazards and pollution,” said Dr. Wilson. “My work deploys science of the people, for the people, and by the people. 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.”
Today, Dr. Wilson is at the forefront of confronting new environmental justice threats in rural, urban, low-income, and unincorporated communities. His latest work partners with Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP) and local residents to shine a spotlight on the dangers of Elon Musk’s massive xAI data center in Memphis’s historic Boxtown neighborhood—a facility burning enough gas to power a small city without permits, oversight, or pollution controls. The result: toxic emissions in an area that already leads Tennessee in asthma-related emergency room visits, with Memphis ranking among the nation’s highest for toxic air releases.
To counter these harms, Dr. Wilson has co-developed hyperlocal air monitoring networks and developed innovative mapping tools such as the Maryland Environmental Justice Screening Tool (MD EJSCREEN) and Mid-Atlantic EJSCREEN, which reveal cumulative pollution burdens at the neighborhood level. By engaging residents directly in data collection and advocacy, he equips communities with the science and strategies they need to fight back—a model he calls “INpowering Communities.”
“Sacoby is honored 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, Chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. “A tireless and passionate advocate for those suffering from the physical, social, and mental impacts of pollution and toxic exposures, he 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.”
The Heinz Awards, now in their 30th year, honor individuals who make extraordinary contributions in the areas of the arts and humanities, the environment, and the human condition. Dr. Wilson will be recognized alongside other 2025 honorees at a ceremony on October 21, 2025.
About the Heinz Awards
Established by Teresa Heinz in memory of her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz, the Heinz Awards honor individuals who have made a transformative impact on society. Now in its 30th year, the program celebrates innovators and advocates in the arts and humanities, the environment, and the human condition. Each award includes an unrestricted cash prize to support honorees in continuing their work.
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