The Green Heart Louisville Project is a groundbreaking scientific study that is testing the hypothesis that introducing more green trees and shrubs into a neighborhood can directly lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide.

“Receiving this award is a great honor not only for our investigators, but also our partners and communities,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, director of the at University of Louisville and project leader for Green Heart Louisville. “It validates years of work which has shown that thoughtfully planned greening can improve cardiovascular and community health, and it affirms that the Green Heart project is not only good science, but also a model for how to improve human health in urban environments. The recognition gives us new momentum to scale this work across Louisville and beyond.”

The Witte-Sakamoto Family Medal in City and Regional Planning was established in 2019 by William Witte, an alumnus of the Weitzman School, and his wife, Keiko Sakamoto to recognize a firm, team or professional for an exemplary plan that advances the field of plan making in at least four of the following areas: social equity, environmental quality, design, public health, mobility, housing affordability and economic development. The juries for the Witte-Sakamoto Family Medal and Prize were chaired by Megan Ryerson, UPS Foundation Chair of Transportation, chair of city and regional planning, and professor of city and regional planning and electrical and systems engineering at Weitzman.

“Green Heart Louisville exemplifies a holistic way of looking at public health – a marriage of design, planning and science to emulate,” said Fritz Steiner, dean and Paley Professor at Weitzman, and a member of the jury who selected Green Heart Louisville for the award.

Launched in 2018 by UofL’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute with support from The Nature Conservancy, the study investigates whether and how living among more densely greened surroundings contributes to better heart health. The Green Heart team applied the treatment – the addition of thousands of mature trees and shrubs – to the center of a four-square-mile area in south Louisville.

The first clinical outcomes from the study, , indicate that people living in neighborhoods where the number of trees and shrubs was more than doubled showed lower levels of a blood marker of inflammation than those living in the control area. General inflammation is an important risk indicator for heart disease and other chronic diseases.

The Green Heart Project’s work to establish a scientific link between nature – specifically urban greenery – and human health is already influencing projects worldwide. The first clinical outcomes announcement garnered widespread national media attention. Many research papers, posters and talks on the project have been delivered to both scientists and laypeople since the project’s inception, and robust research and outreach for the project continues.

Jennifer Morton, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, earned the prize for her ideas in “Moving Up without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility.” Princeton University Press published the in 2019.

The dream of achieving success by attending college is deeply flawed for some, says Morton, a first-generation college student who left Peru to attend Princeton. Drawing on her own experience, philosophical and social science research and interviews with first-generation, low-income and immigrant students, she found that the college experience often forces students to turn away from family and friends to achieve academic success.

For example, one student caring for an ill sister told Morton she had missed so many classes and assignment due dates she wasn’t sure she could catch up. Another student said he had cut ties with his community to be able to manage college.

“First-generation students are often putting their relationships with friends, family and their communities on the line,” Morton said. “We need to recognize their sacrifices and focus on the social, emotional and ethical aspects of their college experience, not simply on grade-point averages and graduation rates.”

, who also is a senior fellow at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Ethics and ����ֱ��, has worked at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, City College of New York and Swarthmore College. She has a doctor of philosophy degree from Stanford University and has received several awards, including the American Philosophical Association’s Scheffler Prize.

“By focusing on the dilemmas first-generation and low-income students can face when pursuing a degree, Morton shed light on an important but often neglected issue,” said Jeff Valentine, education award director. “She also offers strategies that colleges, faculty and students themselves can use to navigate these challenges.”

Recipients of next year’s are being named Dec. 5-9 pending formal approval by trustees. The annual, $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in music, world order, psychology and religion. Winners will visit Louisville in the spring to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.