Appointment of Jody Heymann as Dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

To:  Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Fielding School of Public Health Faculty and Staff, and Vice Chancellors

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jody Heymann as Dean of the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health, effective January 1, 2013.

Dr. Heymann is professor of epidemiology and of political science at McGill University, where she serves as the founding director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy and holds a Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Social Policy. As founding director of the WORLD Global Data Centre, she leads the first global initiative to examine how health and social policies in all 193 U.N. countries affect the ability of individuals, families and communities to meet their health, educational, economic and other needs. Dr. Heymann also directs the Healthier Societies Initiative, a program investigating approaches to controlling health costs while improving health outcomes across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. At McGill, Dr. Heymann has led the development of a unique, multidisciplinary graduate and undergraduate training program that bridges research and policy development, enabling students from more than 40 departments to gain experience in 28 countries. At Harvard University (1989-2008), she chaired the Project on Global Working Families and held faculty appointments in the departments of society, human development, and health; health and social behavior; social medicine; and health care policy in the schools of public health and medicine.

An internationally renowned researcher on health and social policy, Dr. Heymann has authored and edited more than 200 publications, including Children’s Chances (Harvard University Press, forthcoming), Making Equal Rights Real (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), Lessons in Educational Equality (Oxford University Press, 2012 ), Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder (Harvard Business Press, 2009), Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2009), Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006) and Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005).

Deeply committed to translating research into policies and programs that improve individual and population health, Dr. Heymann has worked with government leaders in North America, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, as well as a wide range of intergovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, UNICEF, UNESCO and the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. She served as chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Education Systems and vice-chair of the Global Agenda Council on Education and Skills. Her research has been presented to heads of state and senior policymakers around the world and featured on CNN Headline News; MSNBC; Good Morning America; Fox News; and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Fresh Air and Marketplace; in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Inc., Portfolio.com, Forbes and USA Today, among others. She holds a B.A. in history and physics from Yale University, and an M.D., M.P.P., and Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.

I want to thank the search/advisory committee for assembling an outstanding pool of candidates and for its role in recruiting Jody. The committee was chaired by Judy Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management; other members were Onyebuchi Arah, professor of epidemiology, associate dean for global health in the Fielding School of Public Health, and director of the UCLA Center for Global and Immigrant Health; Ron Brookmeyer, professor of biostatistics; Jonathan E. Fielding, Los Angeles County director of public health, and professor of health services and pediatrics; Patricia Ganz, professor of health services and medicine; Marjorie Kagawa Singer, professor of community health sciences and Asian American studies; Thomas Rice, professor of health services; Beate Ritz, chair and professor of epidemiology, professor of environmental health sciences and neurology; and Fernando Torres-Gil, chair and professor of social welfare, professor of public policy, and director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging. The executive search firm, Witt/Kieffer, was represented by Mary Elizabeth Taylor.

I want to recognize and express our gratitude to Linda Rosenstock for her distinguished service as dean from November 2000 to June 2012. I also thank Tom Rice, who will continue to serve as interim dean until the end of 2012.

Chancellor Block and I are confident that the Fielding School of Public Health will reach new heights under Jody’s leadership. Please join me in welcoming her to UCLA and into this new post.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost