History of Public Health at Harvard

Timeline of Names and Chairs

The following research was conducted by Heather Mumford in 2023. Please email us with corrections, clarifications, or questions. Also, please make sure to review this comprehensive history written by the department: History of GHP.

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1913-1921: Formal departments did not exist in the early school. Rather, courses were grouped together in the catalog, and these specific “groups” were given titles. Students took public health courses at HMS, HU in Cambridge, and MIT. The early group connected to GHP is: 

• Demography (1913-1921 (?))

To see an isolated list of the first "departments" of the school, see The Early School (1913-1921).

 

1962- Department of Demography and Human Ecology

• John C. Snyder (1962-1969)

 

1969 - Department of Population Sciences

• Joseph Beasley (1969-1973)
• Nathan Keyfitz (1973-1975)
• David E. Bell (1975-1988)
• Lincoln C. Chen (1988-1997)

 

1991 - Department of Population and International Health

• Michael Reich (1997-2001)
• David Bloom (2001-2011)

 

2008 - Department of Global Health and Population

• Wafaie Fawzi (2011-2019)
• Marcia Castro (2019-present)

 

Related Work

1963 - Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (the Pop Center)

• Roger Revelle (1963)

1983 - Takemi Program on International Health

• David E. Bell (Director)
• Michael R. Reich (Executive Director and Lecturer)
• Lincoln C. Chen (first Taro Takemi Professor of International Health, 1988)

2005 - HSPH China Initiative 

2008 -  Bernard Lown Scholars in Cardiovascular Health Program

• ? (Director, 2008-2016)
• Goodarz Danaei (Director, 2016-present)

2010 - Dean’s Flagship Women and Health Initiative (W&HI)

• Ana Langer (founding Director)

2015 - India Research Center 

2018- Harvard China Health Partnership

2020 - QuEST (Quality Evidence for Health System Transformation) Network

2021 - Future of Health and Economic Resiliency in Africa (FHERA)

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Timeline 

• Founded 1962  

• Becomes Population Sciences 1970 

• Cross-listed in Graduate Program in the Division of Biological Sciences in Public Health 1984 

• Cross-listed in Division of Biological Sciences in Public Health in 1986 

• Cross-listed in International Health Programs 1991 [not listed after 1992] 

• Becomes Population and International Health 1992 

• Becomes Global Health and Population 2008 

Chairs 

1. John C Snyder (1962-1964) 

2. Roger Revelle (1964-1969) 

3. Joseph Beasley (1969-1970) 

4. John C Snyder (1970-1971) 

5. Hilton Salhanick (1971-1972) 

6. Nathan Keyfitz (1973-1975) [acting] 

7. George Masnick (1975-1977) 

8. Joe D Wray (1977-1979) 

9. Nathan Keyfitz (1979-1981) 

10. David E Bell (1981-1988) 

11. Lincoln Chen (1988-1997) 

12. Michael Reich (1997-2002) [acting to full] 

13. David Bloom (2002-2011) [acting to full] 

14. Wafaie Fawzi (2011-