北大国家发展研究院教授曾毅为第一署名的论文，在2012年10月30日在美国公共卫生学会年会上，荣获美国公共卫生学刊（American Journal of Public Health) 2011最优论文奖。获奖的论文题目为：关于中国老人健康和死亡率与环境因素的相关关系(Yi Zeng, Danan Gu, Jama Purser, Helen Hoeing, and Nicholas Christakis. “Associations of Environmental Factors with Elderly Health and Mortality in China.” American Journal of Public Health, 2010;100(2):298-305)

    据了解，美国公共卫生学刊是美国公共卫生学会学术刊物，月刊，1911年创刊至今已出版发行101年，2011年影响因子为3.93,在全球131家有影响的公共卫生、环境和职业健康相关期刊中排列第三。在该刊2010年发表的约400篇论文中，经学术委员会参照论文发表2年后被引用等评审，五篇论文获”美国公共卫生学刊2011最优论文奖”,曾毅等人的论文是其中之一，在美国公共卫生学刊公布的五篇获奖论文名单中排列第一。

    论文获奖通知及评语如下：

As a way to acknowledge contributions to the AJPH, the Editor-in-Chief developed a process whereby individuals could be recognized for their roles as authors or reviewers of recently published papers.  Two categories of awards were established.  The first is the AJPH Paper of the Year.  This award recognizes a published paper that substantially contributes to our knowledge and understanding of an important public health issue or has advanced a given public health policy or program.  Criteria for selection include a paper that addresses an important and timely public health issue; is innovative, offering new knowledge or insights; has the potential to have a significant public health impact; and advances public health.  The second category is the AJPH Reviewer of the Year which was established to recognize a reviewer who has done the most to strengthen a paper or papers prior to publication.  Specifically, this award recognizes a reviewer who is willing to devote their time, care, and expertise and offers honest, thoughtful, and constructive feedback to authors that ultimately enhances the quality of a paper.

Award Winners for 2011 AJPH Paper of the Year

Yi Zeng, Danan Gu, Jama Purser, Helen Hoeing, and Nicholas Christakis
Associations of Environmental Factors with Elderly Health and Mortality in China

Am J Public Health 2010;100(2):298-305

I am pleased to nominate "Associations of environmental factors with elderly health and mortality in China" for Paper of the Year. Based on a national sample of over 15,000 people and controlling for some personal characteristics, the paper finds significant relationships between mortality and indicators of quality of life with per capita local gross domestic product, illiteracy, labor force participation, air pollution and several other predictors. The ecological study underscores stresses faced by elderly populations living in rapidly urbanizing and industrializing economies.