Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) will present its Public Policy Leadership Awards to Senator Dr. Clarence K. Lam, MD, MPH, FACPM, who represents Howard and Anne Arundel Counties in the General Assembly, at DRM’s 2024 Breaking Barriers Awards Gala. The gala will be held on Thursday, September 26, at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. To register for DRM’s Gala, go to DisabilityRightsMD.org/Breaking-Barriers-Gala.
DRM’s Public Policy Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have shown outstanding dedication and creativity in shaping and advancing legislation that helps create a more inclusive and just world for people with disabilities.According to DRM: "Senator Lam showed people with disabilities that he is a true ally. His integrity, courage, and commitment to justice exemplifies the essence of this award."
Senator Lam was a strong advocate for people with disabilities during the 2024 legislative session. He spearheaded critical anti-discrimination bills and educated the Senate Finance Committee on the need to focus on disability rights in the policy making process. He also sponsored the Self-Directed Mental Health Care bill and opposed assisted outpatient treatment.
Lam serves on the General Assembly's Senate Finance Committee and the Executive Nominations Committee. He chairs the Howard County Delegation, the Joint Committee on Audits and Evaluations, and the Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight. He is also a member of the Anne Arundel County Delegation and is the chair emeritus of the Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. He is currently the only physician and the only Asian American legislator in the Senate of Maryland. In October 2023, Senate President Ferguson appointed him to become the first Asian American chair or vice chair of a Senate committee. He previously served in the Maryland General Assembly as a state delegate from 2015-2019. Lam also serves on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He leads the school’s preventive medicine residency program as its program director and practices clinically as the medical director of occupational medicine at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He is board certified in preventive medicine and occupational medicine.
Read the July 30, 2024 DRM announcement.
A
