Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health in the School of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
African and African American Studies -Sr. Faculty
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Affiliate of the Department of Sociology
Sociology -Other Academic
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Dr. David R. Williams is the Norman Professor of Public Health and Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also a Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. His prior faculty appointments were at Yale University and the University of Michigan. An internationally recognized social scientist, his research has enhanced our understanding of the complex ways in which socioeconomic status, race, stress, racism, health behavior and religious involvement can affect health. He is the author of more than 500 scientific papers and the Everyday Discrimination Scale that he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies. Dr. Williams is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He has been ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences, worldwide, and as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.
He directed the South African Stress and Health Study, the first nationally representative study of the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in sub-Sahara Africa. He was also a key member of the scientific team that conducted the largest study of the mental health of the black population in the U.S. and the first U.S. health study to include a large national sample of Blacks of Caribbean ancestry.
He has played a visible, national leadership role in raising awareness levels of inequities in health, including serving as staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America and a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, Unnatural Causes: Is inequality Making Us Sick? His research has been featured in the national print and television media and in his TED Talk.
A symposium at Harvard Chan School brought together academics, community leaders, activists, mindfulness practitioners, and monastics who studied under Thich Nhat Hanh to explore the intersection of health, mindfulness, and climate change.
Roughly 150 Harvard Chan School alumni gathered in late September for reconnecting, networking, and learning at the annual Alumni Weekend. The focus of the event was “The Right to Health: Equity and Justice for All.”
Children who face racial discrimination are more likely to have obesity, according to a new study.
The health-related repercussions of anti-Roma racism were discussed at the 11th annual Roma Conference at Harvard Chan School.
Briana Acosta, MPH ’23, and Yvette Cho, MPH ’24, are working to address longstanding health inequities affecting communities of color and other historically marginalized groups in roles at the Health Equity Compact, a coalition of more than 65…
