Sandro Galea

Sandro Galea
Portrait of Sandro Galea at PopTech in 2012
Born	1971 (age 44–45)
Nationality	American Canadian
Fields	Epidemiology Public health Emergency medicine
Institutions	Boston University School of Public Health Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Alma mater	Columbia University Harvard University University of Toronto

Sandro Galea (born 1971) is an emergency physician and epidemiologist. He is the Robert A. Knox professor and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. He is the former Chair of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Prior to his academic career in public health, Dr. Galea practiced emergency medicine in Canada and served in Somalia with Doctors Without Borders. He was named one of TIME magazine’s epidemiology innovators in 2006 and Thomson Reuters listed him as one of the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” for the social sciences in 2015. Dr. Galea is past-president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2012 and chaired two of the IOM’s most recent reports on mental health in the military. Dr. Galea serves frequently on advisory groups to national and international organizations. He formerly served as chair of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Community Services Board and as member of its Health Board.^[1]

Academic career

Dr. Galea was named the dean of the Boston University School of Public Health effective January 1, 2015.^[2]

On January 1, 2010, Galea joined the Mailman School as the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and as the Anna Cheskis Gelman and Murray Charles Gelman Professor of Epidemiology. Under the leadership of Galea, the Department of Epidemiology reorganized and consolidated its work in its core area areas of strength, building its research and teaching portfolio in chronic disease, infectious disease, injury, lifecourse, psychiatric/neurological, and social epidemiology. The Department also launched several new cross-cutting programs, including the Global Mental Health Program,^[3] efforts aimed at translation of public health research,^[4] and educational initiatives, including the Epidemiology and Population Health Summer Institute^[5] and the Executive MS program.^[6]

Prior to his tenure at Columbia, he was on the faculty at both the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Medical School. He also held a leadership position at the New York Academy of Medicine.

Research

In his own scholarship, Dr. Galea is centrally interested in the social production of health of urban populations, with a focus on the causes of brain disorders, particularly common mood-anxiety disorders and substance abuse. He has published extensively about social epidemiology, health inequalities, and the health of vulnerable populations. He has long had a particular interest in the consequences of mass trauma and conflict worldwide, including as a result of the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, and the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Galea has conducted research in 18 countries. This work has been principally funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several foundations. He has published over 500 scientific journal articles, 50 chapters and commentaries, and 10 books, and his research has been featured extensively in current periodicals and newspapers. His latest book, co-authored with Dr. Katherine Keyes, is Population Health Science, forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2016.

Selected Awards

• Honorary Doctor of Science - University of Glasgow, Scotland (2015)
• Rema Lapouse Award - American Public Health Association (2015)
• National Academy of Medicine - Elected Member (2012)
• Society for Epidemiologic Research - Elected President (2011)
• American Epidemiologic Society - Elected Member (2008)
• Health Policy Investigator Award - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2007)^[7]
• New York Academy of Medicine - Elected Fellow (2004)

Education

Galea trained as a physician at the University of Toronto. He went on to earn a master's degree in public health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a DrPH at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

References