July 8, 2010
Dr. Howard Frumkin, special assistant at CDC, selected as dean of UW School of Public Health
Dr. Howard Frumkin, special assistant to the director for climate change and health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been selected as dean of the UW School of Public Health, effective Sept. 27. The appointment is subject to approval by the Board of Regents.
“We are excited that we have been able to recruit Dr. Frumkin, a person with such broad expertise in issues of critical importance in public health and its role in environmental health, global health, the built environment, and health care services and delivery” said Provost Phyllis Wise.
Frumkin, who is an internist, environmental and occupational medicine specialist, and epidemiologist, has been at the CDC since 2005, previously serving as director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The center works to improve the health of the American people by promoting a healthy environment, as well as preventing premature death and avoidable illness and disability caused by environmental hazards.
He was at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health from 1990 to 2005, rising to full professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. At Emory he founded and directed the Environmental and Occupational Medicine Consultation Clinic, the Occupational Medicine Residency training program and the Southeast Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit.
From 1988 to 1990 he was assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Frumkin has served on the board of directors of Physicians for Social Responsibility. He has served as chair of the science board of the American Public Health Association, as well as a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee.
Frumkin received his A.B. from Brown University in 1977, his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1982, a master’s in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1982, and a doctorate in public health in 1993, also from Harvard.
His research interests include public health aspects of urban sprawl and the built environment; air pollution; metal and PCB toxicity; climate change; and environmental and occupational health policy, especially regarding minority workers and communities.
He is the author or co-author of over 180 scientific journal articles and chapters, and his books include Urban Sprawl and Public Health (Island Press, 2004), Emerging Illness and Society (Johns Hopkins Press, 2004), Environmental Health: From Global to Local (Jossey-Bass, 2005 and 2010), Safe and Healthy School Environments (Oxford University Press, 2006), and Green Healthcare Institutions: Health, Environment, Economics (National Academies Press, 2007).
Among his many honors, he was named Environmental Professional of the Year by the Georgia Environmental Council in 2004. He also received the Emory School of Medicine Dean’s Teaching Award in 2004.
The School of Public Health is the only accredited school of public health north of Berkeley and west of Minneapolis and is a national leader in public health education and research. The school’s educational programs are designed to produce excellent researchers and practitioners. The school is well regarded nationally for its research programs, and the school regularly provides expert assistance to government and community agencies, industry, and business in solving regional public health problems.
Frumkin’s salary will be $330,000 per year.
