Media Contact: Kathy Fackelmann, 202-994-8354, [email protected]
WASHINGTON, DC (February 25, 2016) — Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, a leading expert in health policy, health equity and solutions to health disparities, joins Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University (Milken Institute SPH) as chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management. He begins his tenure on March 1.
LaVeist, who will also hold a faculty appointment as professor in the department, comes directly from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he had directed the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions since 2002.
He has led seminal research on the impact of socioeconomic and racial inequities on the health of individuals and communities. At Milken Institute SPH, he hopes to better understand health disparities and find solutions that improve the overall health of the nation, especially underserved racial and ethnic communities in cities and rural areas throughout the United States.
“Dr. LaVeist is a world-renowned expert on health disparities and has more than 25 years experience researching, writing and speaking on this topic,” said Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, the Michael and Lori Milken Dean of Milken Institute SPH. “He is a true leader and innovator and will bring his vast experience to address some of the most pressing public health challenges facing the nation today.”
LaVeist’s résumé features a long list of honors, including the Innovation Award from the National Institutes of Health and the Knowledge Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. In 2013, he was elected to membership in the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine) of the National Academies of Sciences.
“I am thrilled to be joining a first-class department with highly regarded training programs and distinguished faculty members who have played a crucial role in research on national health reform and other issues,” LaVeist said. “I hope to continue those longstanding traditions and forge ahead on topics such as health information technology, population health and health equity.”
He plans to expand the Department’s doctoral training offerings and build on existing partnerships with others at Milken Institute SPH and across GW as a whole, and also seeks to further enhance connections with communities in and around Washington, DC.
LaVeist has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals including Health Affairs, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Epidemiology, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of the American College of Cardiology and many more. In addition to his scholarly writing, he has written articles for Newsweek, Black Enterprise and The Baltimore Sun. The second edition of his edited volume, Race, Ethnicity and Health: A Public Health Reader, was published in 2012. His textbook Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the United States was published in 2005.
He is currently working on the book and documentary film, The Skin You’re In, which focuses on health disparities in America.
At Johns Hopkins, LaVeist was the William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy and also held appointments in the School of Medicine, Department of Sociology and Center for Africana Studies.
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, his doctorate in medical sociology from the University of Michigan and a postdoctoral fellowship in public health at the Michigan School of Public Health.
About Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University:
Established in July 1997 as the School of Public Health and Health Services, Milken Institute School of Public Health is the only school of public health in the nation’s capital. Today, more than 1,900 students from 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 50 countries pursue undergraduate, graduate and doctoral-level degrees in public health. The school also offers an online Master of Public Health, MPH@GW, and an online Executive Master of Health Administration, MHA@GW, which allow students to pursue their degree from anywhere in the world.