David R. Williams
Dr. David R. Williams (born, June, 1954), a national of the Caribbean country of St Lucia and a naturalized citizen of the U.S.is an internationally recognized as a leading social scientist focused on social influences on health.[1][2][3][4]He is the author of more than 375 scholarly papers in scientific journals and edited collections.[5] He is probably best known for his research on racism and health, with the Everyday Discrimination scale that he developed being one of the most widely used measures to assess perceived discrimination in health studies.[1][6]He is also recognized for his research documenting the complex ways in which race, socioeconomic status, stress, health behaviors and religious involvement can affect physical and mental health.[4]
Williams is currently the Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a professor of African and African American Studies and of Sociology at Harvard University. [7] His first 6 years as a faculty member were at Yale University where he held appointments in both Sociology and Public Health.[1][3][4] The next 14 years were at the University of Michigan where he was the Harold Cruse Collegiate Professor of Sociology, a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute of Social Research and a Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. [1][3][4]
Williams has been involved in the development of health policy at the national level in the U.S. [4][5][8] He has served on the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.[4][5] He has also served on eight committees for the National Academy of Medicine/National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences including the Committee that prepared the Unequal Treatment Report. [5][9] He also served as an advisor to President Clinton’s Task Force on Health Care Reform in 1993. [8]
He has also played a visible, national leadership role in raising awareness levels of the problem of inequities in health and identifying interventions to address them [3][4][8].
This includes his service as the staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America – a national, independent and nonpartisan health commission that was focused on identifying evidence-based non-medical strategies that can improve the health of all Americans and reduce racial and socioeconomic gaps in health.[10] He was also a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, Unnatural Causes: Is inequality Making Us Sick?[4][5] His TEDMED Talk was released in April 2017.[11]
Personal Life and Education[edit]
Williams was born on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba but was raised on the island of St Lucia which he considers home.[1][2] His father, William Rufus Williams, a St. Lucian, went to Aruba in search of employment after completing his military service in the British West Indian Regiment at the end of World War II. [2] In Aruba, he met and married Zenobia Wilson.[2] Williams is the 4thof 5 children and the family moved to St Lucia in the late1950s.[2] He was raised on a small farm in the Morne Du Don area of Castries.[2] Williams obtained his elementary education at the Castries SDA Primary school and received a scholarship from the Castries City Council to complete his high school education at the St Lucia SDA Academy.[2][3] After teaching at the SDA Academy for one year, he enrolled at Caribbean Union College (now the University of the Southern Caribbean) in Trinidad in 1972.[3] He earned his undergraduate degree (with honours) in 1976. [2] After college, he migrated to the U.S. and earned master’s degrees (in divinity and public health, respectively) from Andrews University in Michigan (1979) and Loma Linda University in California (1981).[2][9] After completing his MPH, Williams worked as a health educator at the Battle Creek Adventist Hospital in Battle Creek, MI. [2][9] In 1982, he enrolled in the graduate program in sociology at the University of Michigan, receiving a master’s degree in 1984 and a PhD in 1986.[2][9]
Awards[edit]
Major Professional Honors[edit]
Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine (formerly, Institute of Medicine), 2001[4] Ranked as one of the Top Ten Most Cited Researchers in the Social Sciences in the past decade (Jan. 1, 1995 to Aug. 31, 2005), ISI Essential Science Indicators, 2006[4] Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007[4]
Ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences in 2008, The Journal of Black Issues in Higher Education, 2009
Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology, American Sociological Association, 2011[4]
Stephen Smith Award for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health, New York Academy of Medicine, 2013[5]
Ranked as one of the World’s Most Influential Sc4entific Minds (in two fields: Social Sciences, General and Psychiatry/Psychology), based on articles published between 2002 and 2012, Thomson Reuters, 2014[5]
Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociological Study of Mental Health, American Sociological Association, 2017[12]
Art of Healing Award, Cambridge Health Alliance, 2017[13]
Bibliography[edit]
On racial discrimination: Harvard News https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/racial-bias-and-its-effect-on-health-care/
On stress and health: Harvard Gazette https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/03/the-costs-of-inequality-faster-lives-and-quicker-deaths/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=03.15.2016%20%281%29
On racial Inequalities in Health: US News & World Report: https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/policy-dose/articles/2016-04-14/theres-a-huge-health-equity-gap-between-whites-and-minorities
On why we need more black doctors: STAT News https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/16/black-doctors-shortage-education/
On tackling police Violence: USA Today https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2017/01/02/blacks-police-and-health/93078464/
Essence Magazine: Beginning of an article: https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-3060466141/no-you-re-not-imagining-it
American Prospect http://prospect.org/article/health-black-and-white
NPR Racism is literally Bad for your health? https://www.npr.org/2017/10/28/560444290/racism-is-literally-bad-for-your-health
Harvard Medical School Diversity Dialogue https://hms.harvard.edu/news/health-disparities-0
Video Washington Post Facebook Live interview
Video USA Today Facebook Live interview on policing, race & healthhttps://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/david-williams-discusses-health-race-and-policing/
UM Press Release about a study regarding Affirmative Action: https://news.umich.edu/white-opposition-to-affirmative-action/
References[edit]
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "David Williams Studies Health Disparities in America - PsycIQ". PsycIQ. 2018-02-21. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 "David Rudyard Williams Biography - Raised in Working-Class Family, Continued Education in the United States". biography.jrank.org. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "St. Lucian Scholar Ranked Number One in the World Among Black Social Scientists". St. Lucia Star. July 4, 2009.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 "David Takeuchi and Eric Wright, Williams 2011 Reeder Award Winner" (PDF). www.asanet.org.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 "David Williams - Who We Are | All of Us". allofus.nih.gov. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
- ↑ mperez (2016-09-16). "Meet the Man Who Proved That Discrimination Can Make You Physically Sick | Colorlines". Colorlines. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ↑ "David Williams". Harvard Magazine. 2007-05-01. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "UM Professor Urges Blacks to Fight for Equal Health Care Detroit News Story" (PDF). July 23, 2004.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "No Title". www.precaution.org. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ↑ "Partners". www.commissiononhealth.org. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ↑ Williams, David R., How racism makes us sick, retrieved 2018-06-30
- ↑ "Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions Past Recipients | Kent State University". www.kent.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ↑ "About CHA | CHA Newsroom | CHA Honors Harvard's David Williams with Art of Healing Award". www.challiance.org. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
