Allan Brandt, the Amalie Moses Kass professor of the history of medicine in the Department of Social Medicine at HMS, was named the new dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Theda Skocpol, who had served as GSAS dean since 2005.
“I am especially looking forward to working on enhancing the strong partnerships for graduate training between HMS, FAS, and other faculties that have begun to develop,” said Brandt. “As a result of my own joint appointment, I am convinced that there are truly great opportunities for new collaborations across the University.”
Brandt has been on the HMS faculty since 1982, except for a brief stint at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, from 1990 to 1992. He is also a professor of the history of science in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. At the Medical School, he served as director of the Division of Medical Ethics from 1996 to 2004 and has been active on several committees such as the Conflict of Interest Committee, the Rare Books and Archives Committee, the Joint Library Committee, the Subcommittee of Professors, and the Academic Promotions Committee. He is currently director of the social sciences track in the MD–PhD program.
His research interests include the social history of American medicine, science, and public health; ethics and values in health care; history of human subject research; and American social and political history. He has written extensively about ethical and policy issues in the history of disease. His new book on the social and cultural history of tobacco use, The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America, was recently awarded the Albert J. Beveridge Prize from the American Historical Association and the Arthur Viseltear Prize from the American Public Health Association. Brandt is the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor Award, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund History of Medicine Award. He was the Charles E. Culpeper Scholar in Medical Humanities from 1992 to 1995.
Outside of Harvard, Brandt has been an adviser and committee member for numerous health organizations, including the World Health Organization AIDS/HIV Program and the Hastings Center Study Group on AIDS and Civil Liberties.
