Sandro Galea, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., is a physician and an epidemiologist. He is Dean and Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Dr. Galea served as the Anna Cheskis Gelman and Murray Charles Gelman Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health where he launched several new educational initiatives and substantially increased its focus on six core areas: chronic, infectious, injury, lifecourse, psychiatric/neurological, and social epidemiology. He previously held academic and leadership positions at the University of Michigan and at the New York Academy of Medicine.
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 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. 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 9 books and his research has been featured extensively in current periodicals and newspapers. His latest book, co-authored with Dr. Katherine Keyes, is an epidemiology textbook, Epidemiology Matters: a new introduction to methodological foundations.
Dr. Galea has a medical degree from the University of Toronto, and graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University. He was named one of TIME magazine’s epidemiology innovators in 2006. He is past-president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society and of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science.
Dr. Galea serves frequently on advisory groups to national and international organizations. He has 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.