Offit claims that celebrities like Maher are witnessed as "fewer credible" and would however be viewed as just "great leisure" if they were not joined by the previous Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Bernadine Healy and influential pediatrician, Dr. Robert Sears. 1939: the National Academy of Sciences awarded Hoover its Public Welfare Medal. 1955: President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Hoover the National Security Medal.