LaVeist named inaugural William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in health policy

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has named Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, the inaugural William C. and Nancy F. Richardson Professor in Health Policy. LaVeist, a leader in the study of minority health and the elimination of health disparities, was officially installed during a ceremony at the Bloomberg School of Public Health on November 10.

The endowed professorship honors William Richardson, PhD, former president of the Johns Hopkins University and professor of Health Policy and Management, and his wife Nancy, former president of the board of the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Funding for the professorship was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which Dr. Richardson led for 10 years.

“Thomas LaVeist is an outstanding researcher. His work has greatly increased our understanding of health disparities in the United Sates and the factors contributing to the health problems of many minority communities,” said Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “I would also like to thank William and Nancy Richardson for their continued commitment to the most vulnerable in our society and for their support of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.”

LaVeist joined Johns Hopkins University in 1990, where he studies minority health and public health policy. In addition to his appointment in the Department of Health Policy and Management, LaVeist holds a joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Oncology, and the University’s Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology. In 2002, LaVeist became the founding director of the Center for Health Disparities Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also a faculty associate in the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Hopkins Population Center.

LaVeist received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, his PhD in medical sociology from the University of Michigan and a postdoctoral fellowship in public health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is the inaugural recipient of the Knowledge Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Health Services’ Office of Minority Health, for contributing “substantial research, as well as written and published work, that advances knowledge about minority health and the elimination of health disparities.”

LaVeist’s is a frequent lecturer on minority health issues and consults regularly with federal agencies and health care organizations on the issues of minority health and cultural competency and racial disparities in health. His research on minority health has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Brookdale Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the Russell Sage Foundation.

LaVeist has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has written articles for Newsweek, Black Enterprise and the Baltimore Sun. His edited volume, Race, Ethnicity and Health (Jossey-Bass) was published in fall 2002. Jossey-Bass also published his latest book, Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Race, Ethnicity and Health in the United States, in April 2005.