The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department’s Board of Health has selected Vivian Lasley-Bibbs as the 2024 Dr. Rice C. Leach Public Health Hero award winner. Lasley-Bibbs died Dec. 11, 2023, and the award will be presented in her memory to her family.

The Dr. Rice C. Leach Public Health Hero Award is given annually to individuals who have demonstrated their dedication to improving the health of Lexington residents. The winners are announced each April as part of National Public Health Week (April 1-7, 2024).

Lasley-Bibbs spent her career in public health, including 12 years as the director of the Office of Health Equity at the Kentucky Department for Public Health. She was founder and president of Navigating Obstacles in African American Health (NOAAH), co-founder of Colors of Promise (a non-profit organization dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness among women of color in Kentucky).

“I believe her work inspired so many that public health was transformed – for the better and forever,” her nomination stated. “Vivian taught, always, with gentleness, patience and a loving heart. Vivian Lasley-Bibbs remains a public health hero in the hearts of all who knew her. She not only helped us become better public health professionals, but more importantly, Vivian helped us become better human beings.”

Lasley-Bibbs, represented by her family, will be recognized at the April 8 Board of Health meeting at 5:45 p.m. at 650 Newtown Pike. Mayor Linda Gorton and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council will honor her and her family at 6 p.m. April 25 during the council meeting.

Previously known as the Public Health Hero Award, the Board of Health renamed the award in 2016 in memory of the late Dr. Rice C. Leach, Lexington’s former Commissioner of Health who spent more than 50 years as a public health physician. Leach died April 1, 2016.