Anna Strong, a 2011 graduate of the Clinton School of Public Service, was recently announced as the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.
The award recognizes alumni who have made sustained and significant contributions in their professional careers and communities by addressing critical public service issues and fostering positive, sustainable impact.
The award was presented to Strong in front of her friends, family, and former classmates during the school’s Alumni Weekend celebration in Little Rock.
“I’m incredibly humbled to receive this award,” Strong said. “I’m having a lot of imposter syndrome about this right now because I look around the room and there are so many people who have done so many amazing things, and I just feel like I’m the person who shows up and does the thing that needs to be done for the kids in Arkansas, and tries to get the things done.
Strong is the Executive Director of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (ARAAP), serves on the Board of Directors for the Little Rock School District, and is the incoming Chair of Forward Arkansas.
As Executive Director of ARAAP, the state’s membership organization for pediatricians, Strong leads policy and advocacy initiatives and engages members in statewide programs that promote child health and health care quality.
“Anna is exactly the kind of leader this school hopes to send into the world, and the kind of person who reminds us what public service can and should be,” said Mallory Mounce, the Clinton School’s Director of Development and Alumni Services. “She lives our mission, not just in theory, but in practice, every single day. We’re proud to call her one of our own and happy to award her with the inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award.”
Before joining ARAAP, Strong served as Executive Director of Child Advocacy and Public Health at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where she led clinical and community health outreach initiatives reaching all 75 counties, and convened the Natural Wonders Partnership Council, a coalition focused on improving child health.
Other past roles include Director of Health Care Policy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, where she led Medicaid-related policy work and contributed to Arkansas’s successful effort to extend Medicaid to low-income adults and establish its health insurance marketplace. She was also a decision support analyst at Acxiom.
Strong serves on the Board of Directors of the School-Based Health Alliance and Harmony Health Clinic.
In addition to her Master of Public Service from the Clinton School, Strong earned a concurrent Master of Public Health from the UAMS College of Public Health. She received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Hendrix College in Conway.
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