The Gen. John Stanford/MLK Unity Parade committee is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Maxine Hayes, state health officer for the Washington State Department of Health, as the grand marshall of the 2005 Washington State Dept. of Health, Gen. John Stanford/MLK Unity parade as part of Soul Fest 2005.

Dr. Hayes, known as the health doctor for Washington state, has worked for the Washington State Department of Health since 1988 and has been instrumental in educating in promoting healthy lifestyles in Washington state. “Dr. Hayes not only promotes healthy lifestyles, she lives it. And it’s only appropriate that we acknowledge the work that she has and continues to do in the way of prevention and education in health care,” said Chris H. Bennett, chairman of Chris Bennett Enterprises Charities, which organizes the festival and parade. “Diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and other health related problems disproportionately affect our community and it’s only appropriate that this year’s parade is being used as a platform to help address these issues.” “Given the amount of information that needs to be shared with our community as it pertains to prevention and early detection of diseases, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner in this year’s parade than Dr. Hayes and the Washington State Dept. of Health in helping to promote healthy lifestyles in our community,” added Bennett. Traditionally, the grand marshall of the Gen. John Stanford/MLK Unity Parade has rode along the entire parade route in a vehicle, this year Dr. Hayes plans to walk most, if not all, of the parade route to emphasize the tremendous health benefits of walking everyday. Dr. Hayes is also clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, School of Medicine and on the faculty of the School of Public Health. Maxine Hayes earned her bachelor’s degree in biology at Spelman College, after two years as a Merrill Fellow at the University of Vienna, Austria. She attended the State University of New York School of Medicine in Buffalo and her post-graduate training was in pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, and at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned a Master of Public Health degree at Harvard University. She is past president of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, and is chair of the Maternal and Child Health Section of the American Public Health Association. Maxine has received many awards and honors for her work, including the American Medical Association’s 2002 Dr. Nathan Davis Award. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has served on the NRC Board on Children, Youth, and Families.