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

January 8, 2020

UCLA Office of the Excutive Vice Chancellor and Provost

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

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ronald S. Brookmeyer as dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, effective January 15, 2020.

A member of the UCLA faculty since 2010, Dr. Brookmeyer is professor of biostatistics and has served as interim dean of the Fielding School since November 2018. Prior to his appointment at UCLA, he served as professor of biostatistics with a joint appointment in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (1981–2010), where he also served as chair and director of the school’s interdepartmental master of public health program from 2002 to 2008. In this schoolwide role, he oversaw a program that included more than 700 students, 200 faculty advisors, and an online program.

Professor Brookmeyer is recognized for his scholarship that uses the tools of the statistical, informational, and mathematical sciences to address major global public health challenges. 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. His work on global public health problems also includes issues in bio-security, disease surveillance, and health challenges of aging populations.

The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Professor Brookmeyer is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, fellow of the American Statistical Association, 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.

Recognized for his excellent teaching, he received the Fielding School’s UCLA Public Health Student Association Teaching Award six times between 2012 and 2019. He is currently a member of the board of reviewing editors of Science magazine. He has served on numerous National Academy of Science panels and editorial boards, including Statistics in Medicine, Journal of the American Statistical Association, and Biostatistics. Professor Brookmeyer received his B.S. in mathematics at Cooper Union and his M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics at the University of Wisconsin.

I want to thank search/advisory committee members for assembling an outstanding pool of candidates and for their roles in recruiting Ron. Gary M. Segura, dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and professor of public policy, political science, and Chicana and Chicano studies, was the committee chair. Other members were:

Onyebuchi A. Arah – professor of epidemiology and of statistics
Sudipto Banerjee – professor and chair, Department of Biostatistics
Jennie E. Brand – professor of sociology and statistics; director, California Center for Population Research; co-director, Center for Social Statistics
Marjorie Kagawa-Singer – research professor/professor emerita of community health sciences and of Asian American studies
Gerald Kominski – professor of health policy and management and of public policy
Anne R. Pebley – distinguished professor and Fred H. Bixby Chair, Department of Community Health Sciences; professor of sociology; director, Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health
Yifang Zhu – professor of environmental health sciences; associate dean for academic programs, Fielding School of Public Health

Chancellor Block and I are grateful for Ron’s distinguished service as interim dean during the past 14 months. He has proven to be a strong leader and an effective administrator, and we are confident that the school will reach new heights with him at the helm. Please join us in congratulating Ron and welcoming him as dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Sincerely,

Emily A. Carter
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost