Michelle Ann Williams

Michelle Williams
Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2016
Preceded by	Julio Frenk
Personal details
Born	Kingston, Jamaica
Alma mater	Princeton University Tufts University Harvard University
Website	Official bio

Michelle Ann Williams is a Jamaican-American epidemiologist serving as the dean of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.^[1]

Early years[]

Williams was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and immigrated to New York with her family at age 7. ^[2] She completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, receiving an AB in biology in 1984. She received an MS in Civil Engineering in 1986 from Tufts University, and two degrees from Harvard University, a SM in demography and population sciences, in 1988, and a ScD in epidemiology in 1991.^[3]

Career[]

After a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Washington School of Public Health, she joined the University of Washington faculty as an assistant professor of epidemiology in 1992. She became an associate professor in 1996, and a full professor in 2000.^[1]

She returned to Harvard in 2011, becoming the first Stephen B. Kay Family Professor of Public Health and chair of the Department of Epidemiology.^[4][5] In addition to contributing to over 400 scientific papers, she was also the faculty director of the Harvard Catalyst's Population Health Research Program and the Health Disparities Research Program.^[6] The previous Dean, Julio Frenk, left the position in August 2015 to become president of the University of Miami.^[7]

In December 2019, members of the faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School Public Health met without Dean Williams and considered voting for "no confidence" in the Dean's leadership.^[8] They cited concerns revealed in the annual Faculty Priority Survey related to insufficient faculty governance and poor communication from the Dean's office that played a role in the departure of more than 40 faculty from the school over the past 2 years. In interviews with the Harvard Crimson newspaper, faculty and staff also described a "toxic culture" fomented by Williams and her deputy, Michael J. Grusby, the latter who oversaw human resources and whom employees reported feeling uncomfortable bringing their concerns to given his "demeaning and disrespectful" treatment. The faculty ultimately decided not to vote against the Dean, expressing "reservations about the optics of censuring Harvard's first black dean of a professional school and the school's first female dean" (Ashish K. Jha, the school's then Dean for Global Strategy, advised that such a move would harm the school institutionally). Following a detailed investigation published by the Harvard Crimson in January 2020,^[9] Michael Grusby stepped down from his administrative positions.^[10]

Honors and recognitions[]

In 2011 while she was at the University of Washington, Williams received a Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the National Science Foundation for her work in developing the Multidisciplinary International Research Training (MIRT) Program, which is designed to encourage underrepresented students to pursue careers in biomedical and behavioral science research careers.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} At the time of the award, she had mentored 23 MD graduates, 28 PhD graduates, and 67 Master's degree graduates, twenty of whom were faculty in institutions of higher learning in the United States and abroad.^[16] In February 2017, Williams received the 2017 Trailblazer Award from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.^[17]

References[]