3 St. Louisans on list of ‘high-impact’ Missourians receiving $200,000 awards

Reported by St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS — The leader of a St. Louis clinic providing health care to immigrants and refugees is one of three area recipients of a $200,000 prize for “high-impact” Missourians from the Missouri Foundation for Health.

Diego Abente, the recipient of one of the first “Spark Prizes,” has worked as president and CEO of the St. Louis-based nonprofit Casa de Salud since 2020. The clinic is located at 3200 Chouteau Avenue.

“Our ultimate goal at Casa is to help people be healthy, be well and be as productive as they can be for ourselves and for our region,” Abente said.

Abente is among five Missourians receiving $200,000 through the inaugural Spark Prize — a $1 million investment “in high-impact Missourians leading transformative work to improve health outcomes across the state,” according to the Missouri Foundation for Health.

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