History of Public Health at Harvard

Timeline of Departmental Names and Chairs

The following research was conducted by Hanna Clutterbuck-Cook and Heather Mumford between 2020 and 2022, using historic course catalogs and other reference material available at the Center for the History of Medicine. Please email us with corrections, clarifications, or questions. Also, please read a narrative description of the department's history (maintained by the department on Harvard Chan's website). 

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 such as those listed below. Students took public health courses at HMS, HU in Cambridge, and MIT. Early groups connected to epidemiology were: 

• 1913
  • Special Pathology 
  • Sanitary Biology and Sanitary Chemistry (1913-1921, then disappears)
  • Sanitary Engineering 
  • Preventive Medicine
• 1915
  • Communicable Diseases
  • Personal Hygiene (1913-1921, then disappears)
  • Preventive Medicine and Sanitary Science
  • Sanitary Engineering 

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

1922 - Department of Epidemiology founded. 

1923 - Epidemiology becomes Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology 

1939 - Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology splits -- Epidemiology (HSPH) and Preventative Medicine (HMS). 

1946 - Epidemiology merges with Communicable Diseases and Parasitology and Tropical Medicine 

1949 - Epidemiology and Tropical Public Health becomes separate departments. 

Chairs 

1. Milton J Rosenau (1922-1939) 

2. John E Gordon (1946-1958) 

3. Brian MacMachon (1958-1989)

4. Dimitrios Trichopoulos (1989-1996)  

5. Alexander Walker (1996-2000)  

8. Meir Stampfer (2000-2007)  

9. Hans-Olov Adami (2007-2011)  

10. Michelle Williams (2011-2016)

11. Albert Hofman (2016-present)

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Timeline 

• Founded 1922 

• Merges with Epidemiology [E] 1946 

Chairs 

1. Edwin Place (1922-1932) 

2. Charles McKhann (1932-1940) 

3. Conrad Wesselhoeft (1940-1943) 

4. Richard M Smith (1943-1946) 

5. John E Gordon (1946-1958) [pre-existing chair of Epidemiology at time of merger] 

6. Brian MacMachon (1958-1989) [E] 

7. Dimitrios Trichopoulos (1989-1996) [E] 

8. Alexander Walker (1996-2000) [E] 

11. Meir Stampfer (2000-2007) [E] 

12. Hans-Olov Adami (2007-2011) [E] 

13. Michelle Williams (2011-2016) [E] 

14. Albert Hofman (2016-present) [E]

1913 - Preventive Medicine

1915 - Preventive Medicine and Sanitary Science

• William T Sedgwick and Selskar Gunn

1920 - Cutter Lecture on Preventive Medicine

1922 - Courses are sometimes listed as if in two separate departments: Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology

1923 - Epidemiology becomes Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology

• Milton Rosenau (1923-1935)
• Frederick Russell (1935-1939)

1939 - Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology becomes Epidemiology

• John Gordon (1939- )