Ellice Lieberman, MD, DrPH, Dean for Faculty Affairs

As Dean for Faculty Affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Ellice Lieberman is responsible for faculty policies and procedures relating to promotions and appointments. She also oversees the development and implementation of programs for professional development. In her capacity as Dean of Faculty Affairs, Dr. Lieberman serves as Deputy Director and Chair of the Academic Leadership Committee of the HMS Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.

An HMS Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Lieberman also is Professor of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). She received her BA degree from Temple University. After receiving her MD degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1977, she trained in Pediatrics at Brown University and in Preventive Medicine at HSPH. In 1986, the same year she joined the HMS faculty, Dr. Lieberman received a Doctorate in Public Health (Epidemiology) from HSPH.

In addition to her duties as Dean for Faculty Affairs, Dr. Lieberman directs a multidisciplinary research program investigating a variety of areas related to pregnancy outcome. Her research focuses primarily on term labor and birth, particularly the impact of labor management practices on low risk women and their infants. Dr. Lieberman has conducted federally funded studies investigating the effects of epidural analgesia used for pain relief during labor. She and her colleagues were the first to report that most fevers among low-risk women during labor result from epidural analgesia and that exposure to this maternal fever during labor is associated with a higher rate of abnormal fetal position and other adverse outcomes, including infant seizures. Her studies include a randomized trial focused on the etiology and physiologic correlates of epidural-related fever and its effects on maternal and neonatal outcome. She is author of more than 100 original articles.

Dr. Lieberman has participated in a variety of national initiatives, including the National Institutes of Health Conference on Epidural Analgesia in Labor, the Task Force on Cesarean Delivery of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association Child Health Initiative’s Conference on Child Health, and a Centers for Disease Control/Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiative on Strategies to Actively Monitor the Risks of Medication in Pregnancy. She has served as a grant reviewer for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration. She also serves as a consultant to the FDA’s Medical Devices Advisory Committee and Center for Devices and Radiological Health.