Faculty News Spring 2020

Leadership Updates

Professor Sarah FortuneSarah Fortune, John LaPorte Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, was named chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases on January 1. Fortune’s research focuses on the broad range of clinical outcomes for tuberculosis infections.

Professor Jane KimJane Kim, professor of health decision science in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the Center for Health Decision Science, was appointed dean for academic affairs effective February 10. Her research focuses on the development and application of mathematical modeling methods to evaluate health policy issues related to women’s health.

Influential Faculty

More than 30 faculty members affiliated with the School have been named among the world’s most influential researchers in 2019. The annual list of Highly Cited Researchers from the Web of Science Group includes faculty from around the world whose publications have been cited most often by their peers.

Researchers recognized included:
Brent Coull, professor of biostatistics and associate chair of the Department of Biostatistics
Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science, and co-director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative
Gökhan S. Hotamışlıgil, James Stevens Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism
Rafael Irizarry, professor of biostatistics
Brendan D. Manning, professor of molecular metabolism
Meir Stampfer, professor of epidemiology and nutrition
S V Subramanian, professor of population health and geography
Antonella Zanobetti, principal research scientist, Department of Environmental Health.

Visit https://hsph.me/most-cited for the complete list.

Awards and Honors

Brent CoullBrent Coull, professor of biostatistics and associate chair of the Department of Biostatistics, was named president-elect of ENAR, the Eastern North American Region of the International Biometric Society, in October 2019. His election recognizes not only his scientific contributions but
also his commitment to supporting and advancing the fields of biostatistics, quantitative health sciences, and public health.

Felipe Fregni,Felipe Fregni, professor in the Department of Epidemiology and founder and program director of the Executive and Continuing Professional Education’s Principles and Practice of Clinical Research program, is one of the recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, announced in July 2019, acknowledges the contributions scientists and engineers have made to the advancement of science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) education and to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, and community outreach.

Yonatan Grad, Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Yonatan GradAssistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, received in August 2019 the ASTDA Young Investigator Award from the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association.

Dyann WirthDyann Wirth and Stephen Marks were named in November as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Marks, François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights in the Department of Global Health and Population, was recognized for his distinguished contributions to the field of human rights and international health from the perspectives of international law, politics, organizations, and economics. Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, was recognized for her distinguished contributions to the field of molecular microbiology, particularly using molecular genetics and genomics to study the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

Benjamin Sommers, professor of health policy and economics, was elected Benjamin Sommersin October 2019 to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, recognizing outstand- ing professional achievement and commitment to service. Sommers was recognized for his health policy expertise on Medicaid and the health care safety net and for research and policy advocacy that have influenced the implementation of, and debate on the future of, the Affordable Care Act.

Appointments and Promotions

Erin Driver-Linn, lecturer on social and behavioral sciences

José Figueroa, assistant professor of health policy and management

Smita Gopinath, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases

Adam Haber, assistant professor of computational biology and environmental health

Sheng (Tony) Hui, assistant professor of molecular metabolism

Margaret Kruk, professor of health systems

Kyu Ha Lee, assistant professor of integrative genomic epidemiology

Josiemer Mattei, Donald and Sue Pritzker Associate Professor of Nutrition

Ellen Meara, professor of health economics and policy

Lorelei Mucci, professor of epidemiology

Laurie Pascal, senior lecturer on health management

Richard Siegrist, senior lecturer on health care management

Bookshelf

Alice HamiltonThe Education of Alice Hamilton: From Fort Wayne to Harvard
Matthew C. Ringenberg, William C. Ringenberg, and Joseph D. Brain
Indiana University Press, 2019 166 pages

Alice Hamilton, Harvard’s first female faculty member, is considered the founder of occupational health and industrial toxicology in America and is credited with pioneering national safety standards. This book describes her Harvard years and contributions after retirement, as well as early influences that shaped her scientific skills and commitment to social reform.

book cover

Getting Health Reform Right: A Guide to Improving Performance and Equity (15th Anniversary Edition)
Marc J. Roberts, William Hsiao, Peter Berman, and Michael R. Reich
Oxford University Press, 2019 360 pages

This book is known as the world’s leading text for understanding and managing health systems and their reform, and its ideas have informed health-reform efforts in countries all over the world. This edition features a new introduction by the authors that frames the book for a new generation of readers.

book coverYou’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When It Matters Most
Leonard J. Marcus, Eric J. McNulty, Joseph M. Henderson, and Barry C. Dorn
PublicAffairs, 2019 304 pages

Faculty members of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard take readers to the front lines of some of the toughest decisions facing the nation’s leaders—from how to mobilize during a hurricane or in the aftermath of a bombing to halting a raging pandemic. The authors also examine the tough decision making inside leading companies and nonprofits.