The City of Alexandria’s Public Health Advisory Commission announced today that Dr. Basim Khan and Debby Dimon were named the winners of the 2025 Flora K. Casey Public Health Award. The award, named for the late Flora K. Casey, celebrates individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to advancing public health and wellbeing for the people of Alexandria. 

The Public Health Advisory Commission welcomes all members of the community to attend the Flora K. Casey Award Ceremony, which will be held on Saturday, May 17 from 8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. in the Vola Lawson Lobby at Alexandria City Hall, located at 301 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.

About the Winners

Basim Khan, MD, MPA is CEO and a primary care physician at Neighborhood Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that provides primary care to more than 42,000 low-income patients in 15 clinics across Alexandria and Northern Virginia. For almost two decades, Dr. Khan has advocated for expanding access to high quality and affordable health care for underserved populations – including dental, behavioral health, optometry, pharmacy, and support services. He led testing and vaccination efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and has advocated for initiatives focused on chronic disease prevention, integrated behavioral health, enhanced maternal and child health, and community-based care. 

Deborah “Debby” Dimon, RN, MPH is the supervisor for the public health nursing program at Alexandria Health Department, having served at AHD for nearly 35 years. Debby procured AHD’s initial Ryan White CARE Act grant funding and has grown the department’s medical, nutrition, case management, dental, and medication services. She has built a legacy on improving sexually transmitted infection (STI) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and care – launching Alexandria’s HIV peer case management program, walk-in HIV/STI testing clinic, and the former “Rainbow Tuesday” clinic that focused on offering compassionate sexual health care to gay, bisexual, transgender, and same gender loving men. Additionally, she’s developed several health outreach campaigns, supervised AHD nursing clinics, and built strong relationships with providers and organizations across Virginia to improve the health of people in Alexandria and beyond. 

“The Commission is thrilled to recognize both Debby Dimon and Dr. Basim Khan as this year’s winners of the Flora K. Casey Award,” said Jerome Cordts, Chair of Alexandria’s Public Health Advisory Commission. “Both have been tireless advocates for the patients to whom they’ve provided clinical care, and they have built legacies on improving access and quality of care for our entire community, especially our most vulnerable residents.”

More information about the Flora K. Casey Award and this year’s award ceremony is available on the Casey Award website.   

If you prefer communication in another language, free interpretation and translation services are available to you, please email LanguageAccess@alexandriava.gov or call 703.746.3960.  For reasonable disability accommodations, please email Casey.Colzani@vdh.virginia.gov or call 703.746.4956.

For media inquiries, contact Eve Elliott at 804.467.5160 or eve.elliott@vdh.virginia.gov.