Ronald Waldman

M.D., M.P.H.

Professor Emeritus

School: Milken Institute School of Public Health

Department: Global Health

Contact:

Email: Ronald Waldman

Ron Waldman, MD began his career as a volunteer in the World Health Organization's Smallpox Eradication Program, serving for two years in rural Bangladesh. He joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1979 and was assigned to the Michigan State Health Department where he became the principal investigator on case-control studies that established the association between aspirin and Reye Syndrome. He also worked with the Ministry of Health in Somalia and, with colleagues, helped establish the epidemiology of refugee health. After two years as CDC's regional epidemiologist based in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, in 1985 he became Director of the Technical Support Division of CDC's International Health Program Office and worked on both child survival projects and disaster response. From1992 through 1994 he was the Coordinator of the Cholera Control Task Force at the World Health Organization in Geneva.

From 1994-1999 he was assigned by CDC to be Technical Director of the USAID-funded BASICS program, a global child survival effort. During this time he also worked in emergency relief in the Balkans and Central Africa. In 1999 he became Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health where he was Founding Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health. In 2004-5 he was WHO's coordinator during the tsunami emergency in Aceh, Indonesia. In 2007 he became Team Leader for Strategic Preparedness in the Pandemic Influenza and Other Emerging Pandemic Threats Unit of the US Agency for International Development. In 2010 he served as the US Government's health sector coordinator in the Haiti earthquake relief effort and, later that year, as Senior Public Health Advisor to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator during the Pakistan floods disaster response.. He joined the faculty at GW in July 2012.

Expertise

Children's Health

Infectious Disease

Education

Bachelor of Arts, University of Rochester, New York, 1967
Doctor of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 1975
Master of Public Health, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1979

Teaching

PubH 3133: Global Health and Development
PubH 6480: Humanitarian Operations

Community Service

WHO Scientific Advisory Board of Experts: Developing a Framework for Decision-making for Vaccination in Emergencies
Board of Directors, Doctors of the World/US
Board of Overseers, International Rescue Committee
Co-editor in Chief, Global Health: Science and Practice
Associate Editor: Journal of Global Public Health
Editorial Board: Journal of Disasters

Publications

Rebuilding and strengthening health systems and providing basic services in fragile states
Newbrander W, Waldman R, Shepherd-Banigan M. Rebuilding and strengthening health systems and providing basic services in fragile states. Disasters. 2011 Oct;35:639-60/
Rebuilding health systems to improve health and promote state building in post-conflict countries: a theoretical framework and research agenda
Kruk ME, Freedman LP, Anglin GA, Waldman RJ. Rebuilding health systems to improve health and promote state building in post-conflict countries: a theoretical framework and research agenda. Soc Sci Med. 2010 Jan;70(1):89-97
Infectious diseases in the context of war, civil strife and social dislocation
Waldman R. Infectious diseases in the context of war, civil strife and social dislocation. In Mayer KH and Pizer HF, eds., The Social Ecology of Infectious Diseases, Academic Press, 2008.
Field Investigations of Natural Disasters and Complex Emergencies
Waldman R and Noji EK. Field Investigations of Natural Disasters and Complex Emergencies. In Gregg M, ed. Field Epidemiology, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2008.
The South Asian Earthquake Six Months Later ? an Ongoing Crisis
Brennan R, Waldman RJ. The South Asian Earthquake Six Months Later ? an Ongoing Crisis. New England Journal of Medicine 2006, Apr 27;354(17):1769-71.
Responding to catastrophes: a public health perspective
Waldman RJ. Responding to catastrophes: a public health perspective. Chicago J Intl Law. 2006; 6:553-79.
Outbreak of tetanus cases following the tsunami in Aceh Province
Aceh Epidemiology Group. Outbreak of tetanus cases following the tsunami in Aceh Province, Indonesia. Glob Public Health. 2006;1(2):173-77.
Rebuilding Public Health Systems in Post-conflict Settings
Waldman R. Editorial. Glob Public Health. 2006;1(2):121-24.