MLK Tribute Awards 2026 – Distinguished Service Awardee
Hear from Chief Operating Officer and Founder of the Tubman Center for Health & Freedom, Danisha Jefferson-Abye, about how they are transforming healthcare for the community and honoring the heroic legacy of activist and nurse, Harriet Tubman. They recently received the MLK Tribute Distinguished Service Award honor from UW Medicine.
Mission
“The Tubman Center for Health & Freedom addresses health and wellness from both systemic and clinical approaches. By practicing medicine from the intersection of health and freedom, we address both the health of our patients as well as the factors that determine their health. Tubman Health provides primary and preventative care, community resources, social services, political education and advocacy.”
Exemplifying Liberation & Community
Danisha Jefferson-Abye recently accepted the 2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award granted by UW Medicine and the UW Health Sciences that honors organizations committed to improving the health of the public with equity at the forefront. This award is an esteemed recognition, exemplifying commitment to increasing access to quality healthcare for all and eliminating barriers to care for the most vulnerable. On the recognition, Danisha shared the below about the accomplishments and future of the Tubman Center.
Our Distinguished Service Awardee meets the below criteria in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy to build Beloved community and strive for economic, social, and racial justice in all forms.
- Creating an environment and community where individuals can empower themselves; commitment to addressing community needs, particularly communities of color and low-income
- Development and implementation of significant programs to improve the human condition
- Outstanding efforts to protect and empower all individuals
“The Tubman Center for Health & Freedom delivers a model of care rooted in community wisdom and informed by the best of public health practice. Built from the ground up, Tubman Health’s approach integrates high-quality clinical care with community-designed solutions that address the systems that make our communities unwell. Our model centers dignity, trust, and belonging, recognizing that healing happens both inside and beyond the exam room.
Today, Tubman Health operates two community-owned clinics that serve as living examples of what it looks like to reimagine healthcare through the leadership of marginalized communities. Our healing spaces function not only as clinics, but as spaces of restoration, connection, and possibility. In the coming year, we will gather to turn soil on our third and largest clinic, a major milestone in this journey to advance #MedicineforthePeople.
As an institution rooted in the only municipality named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we carry a unique responsibility to practice this vision not as a commemorative ideal, but as a living commitment to justice, equity, and service. Tubman Health is proud to contribute a homegrown solution that reflects this call.
Receiving the UW Medicine Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award is both an honor and an affirmation. It recognizes the collective labor of our staff, partners, and community members, and reinforces our commitment to continue building healthcare a model of care that is unshakably rooted in love, accountability, and liberation.” – Chief Operating Officer and Founder of the Tubman Center for Health & Freedom, Danisha Jefferson-Abye
