The Charles Max Cole, MD,
Leadership Award recognizes a
DCMS member for outstanding
service to the profession of
medicine and to the community. The first
award was given to Charles Max Cole, MD,
in 1985 for his numerous contributions on
the national, state, and local levels.
Since childhood, Dr. John Carlo has
been fascinated with a career in medicine.
With a passion to learn and help others,
becoming a doctor was the clear choice.
Over the past 16 years, Dr. Carlo has
worked in several different public health
settings, as well as contributing impactful
and broad changes as the CEO of
Prism Health North Texas, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to the treatment
and prevention of HIV and AIDS.
In his work, Dr. Carlo has enjoyed the
opportunity to work closely with many
incredible physicians, government officials,
and community leaders. Through many
different collaborative efforts, he has
worked to tackle the large amount of
health inequalities that are impacting many
20 DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL • January 2021
people here in North Texas. Whether it
is people representative of the LGBTQ+
community, communities in south Dallas,
the recently incarcerated, or other
disenfranchised groups, Dr. Carlo sees
many challenges yet also tremendous
opportunities to make a difference in
people’s lives.
However, despite this recognition of
his remarkable career, Dr. Carlo feels
he is far from finished working in public
health. “I was really surprised,” Dr. Carlo
said of receiving this award. “The Dr.
Max Cole Leadership Award is a lifetime
achievement award, and I’m very honored,
but I feel I still have most of my career
in front of me. Hopefully, I’m just at the
beginning.”
A Passion for Public Health
Before his role at Prism Health of
North Texas, Dr. Carlo spent years
working as an epidemiologist, eventually
chief epidemiologist, and later medical
director and health authority at the Dallas
County Department of Health and Human
Services. He then went on to work as
a program director for the Center for
Infectious Disease Research and Policy at
the University of Minnesota. In this role,
he had the opportunity to work under Dr.
Michael Osterholm, a well-known public
health expert in pandemics who was
recently named to serve on President-elect
Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Task Force. “Mike O.
was an incredible mentor, and I learned a
lot about the potential cost of pandemics
to our community,” Dr. Carlo said, speaking
of his experience. “I’m so sad that we
are actually watching these predictions
unfold.”
While some might prefer to stick to
one consistent area to work, Dr. Carlo
has enjoyed his time working in different
environments—be it government,
academic, or nonprofit. However, in all
of these settings, Dr. Carlo said, “My
favorite type of work is sitting with
patient-community groups. I like being in
the neighborhoods.” This means spending
a lot of time in meetings. “I really enjoy
being involved in these settings because
you really get a better understanding of
what is really happening out there.” Dr.
Carlo recalled a time when he had the
D C M S A W A R D S
THE CHARLES MAX COLE, MD,
LEADERSHIP AWARD
By Samantha Sabio