Lisa Berkman
"I am extremely pleased that Professor Berkman has accepted the position," said Hyman. "She brings both expertise in population-based research and a long history of collaborative activities that will serve to reinvigorate the Center, expand the breadth of its work, and involve faculty and students from across the University."
Berkman, a social epidemiologist, is currently chair of the School's Department of Society, Human Development, and Health. Recognized for her groundbreaking work in the field of social epidemiology, she is noted for identifying the effects of social networks on mortality risks that helped define the field in the late 1970s. She has also broadened the field with her investigations of how social conditions related to inequality, race, ethnicity, and social isolation influence health and aging.
"Lisa is a creative and dynamic leader with the rare gift of being able to engage with members in almost every faculty in the University and bringing together people and ideas from the biological sciences, social sciences, and humanities," said Barry R. Bloom, Dean of HSPH, which administers the center.
"This is an exciting time for the Population Center," said Berkman. "Population and development is now a dynamic field embracing many disciplines including demography, epidemiology, and a host of social sciences. The field has lately begun to demonstrate a great capacity to identify and understand the causal processes shaping the health and well-being of populations. Determinants of population health include social, physical, and biological environments as well as health systems and political systems. Issues of migration will also be central to the mission of the center."
Although the appointment is effective immediately, Berkman will continue to direct the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health until the end of the academic year while a search is conducted for her successor.
Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College
