Three School of Public and Population Health faculty are among this year's recipients of the UTMB Faculty Excellence and Lifetime Achievement Awards, the university's annual recognition of outstanding faculty across all of its schools. Dr. Kyriakos Markides received the Lifetime Achievement in Research Award, Dr. Soham Al Snih received the Excellence in Mentoring Award, and Dr. Neil Mehta received the Excellence in Research Award.

Dr. Markides has spent more than four decades at UTMB studying how populations grow older. His work built a decades-long study of health and aging among older Mexican Americans and led him to found the Journal of Aging and Health, which he continues to edit. Last fall, the Cyprus Academy of Sciences elected him a member, an honor the School covered in a story on his Cyprus Academy election.

The Excellence in Mentoring Award recognizes Dr. Al Snih's work training the next generation of researchers. Over her career at UTMB, she has mentored more than 100 graduate students, medical students, fellows, and visiting scholars, many of whom have gone on to publish alongside her. Her School faculty profile outlines her research on aging, muscle strength, and frailty in older adults.

Dr. Mehta's research on mortality and life expectancy has helped explain why gains in U.S. life expectancy slowed in recent years, pointing to cardiovascular disease rather than the causes many had assumed. He leads the School's Department of Epidemiology as its first chair, a role announced in a story on his appointment.