Appointment of Ronald S. Brookmeyer as Interim Dean, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

UCLA Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

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

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that Professor Ronald S. Brookmeyer in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has agreed to serve as interim dean of the school. He will begin his term November 1, 2018.

Ron joined UCLA in 2010 as a professor of biostatistics. He uses the tools of the statistical, informational and mathematical sciences to address global public health problems. During a span of more than three decades, Ron has developed statistical methods that sound the alarm to help address the major global health challenges of our times. Among his many accomplishments, he earned worldwide recognition for predicting the magnitude of the impending HIV/AIDS epidemic with work beginning in the mid-1980s, and, through widely cited studies, he has called attention to the looming Alzheimer’s epidemic.

After completing his M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Ron joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1981. He served as the director of Johns Hopkins school-wide interdepartmental master of public health program, which included more than 700 students and 200 faculty advisors and an online program. Ron’s many honors include being an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Mortimer Spiegelman Gold Medal in health statistics, and holder of the American Statistical Association’s Nathan Mantel Lifetime Achievement Award and the Karl E. Peace Award for outstanding statistical contributions for the betterment of society. He has served on numerous editorial boards and scientific panels and is currently a member of the board of reviewing editors of Science magazine.

Chancellor Block and I appreciate Ron’s willingness to serve as interim dean, and have every confidence in his ability to provide strong leadership and continuity for the school. I anticipate forming a search committee in early 2019 to identify candidates for a permanent dean, and I will keep you informed as we initiate the search.

Sincerely,

Scott L. Waugh
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost