David Bloom

A distinguished economist and demographer, Bloom was named chair of the Department of Population and International Health at HSPH in 2003, embarking on an effort to identify major global health issues and ways to impact policy. Along with HSPH Professor David Canning and other colleagues, he has elucidated the concept of the "demographic dividend"--the idea that better health triggers the creation of a baby boom generation, which leads to significant potential for economic growth as large groups of youth mature to adulthood. This research is linked to another theory espoused by Bloom and his colleagues, namely that healthier people make for wealthier nations.

With Joel Cohen of Rockefeller University, Bloom has worked extensively on the rationale, means, and consequences of universal basic and secondary education. The two researchers co-directed an American Academy of Arts and Sciences project on this subject. Bloom has also worked with Harvard's Henry Rosovsky on the contribution of higher education to international development.

Bloom has worked extensively throughout the developing world, including Indonesia, China, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, Jamaica, and El Salvador. He is currently serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

Carrying his passion for education to students at Harvard, Bloom co-teaches "Foundations of Global Health and Population" with Joel Lamstein, founder and president of John Snow, Inc. In the spring of 2004, Bloom initiated the first introductory course on global health and population at Harvard College. In response, the senior class voted him as one of their 20 most outstanding professors. His photo will appear in the 2005 yearbook, along with a letter from Bloom to the college class that reads in part: "Improving global health is one of the greatest challenges of the modern era. The problems are complex, but they are surmountable, so we have an obligation to doggedly pursue solutions...I am particularly gratified to have worked with so many bright, diligent students who grappled with the stark realities we explored and many of whom undertook senior theses in this area."

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was created in 1780 as a learned society. Members are nominated and elected by current fellows based on their contributions to the sciences, scholarship, public affairs, business, or the arts. An induction ceremony will take place on October 8 at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, MA.