Ronald S. Brookmeyer named interim dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

Ronald S. Brookmeyer, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of biostatistics, has been appointed interim dean of the Fielding School. He will begin his term on November 1, 2018.

“Chancellor Block and I appreciate Ron’s willingness to serve as interim dean, and have every confidence in his ability to provide strong leadership and continuity for the school,” said Scott Waugh, UCLA executive vice chancellor and provost, who made the announcement in an email sent today.

Brookmeyer, who joined UCLA in 2010 as a professor of biostatistics, uses the tools of the statistical, informational and mathematical sciences to address global public health problems. During a span of more than three decades, he has developed statistical methods that sound the alarm to help address the major global health challenges of our times. Among Brookmeyer’s many accomplishments, he earned worldwide recognition for predicting the magnitude of the impending HIV/AIDS epidemic with work beginning in the mid-1980s, and, through widely cited studies, he has called attention to the looming Alzheimer’s epidemic.

After completing his MS and PhD in statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Brookmeyer joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1981. He served as the director of Johns Hopkins school-wide interdepartmental Master of Public Health program, which included more than 700 students and 200 faculty advisors and an online program. Brookmeyer’s numerous honors include being an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Mortimer Spiegelman Gold Medal in health statistics, and holder of the American Statistical Association’s Nathan Mantel Lifetime Achievement Award and the Karl E. Peace Award for outstanding statistical contributions for the betterment of society. He has served on numerous editorial boards and scientific panels and is currently a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors of Science magazine.

Waugh shared in today’s announcement that a search committee to identify candidates for a permanent dean will likely be formed in early 2019.

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, founded in 1961, is dedicated to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals from diverse backgrounds, translating research into policy and practice, and serving our local communities and the communities of the nation and the world. The school has more than 600 students from more than 31 nations engaged in carrying out the vision of building healthy futures in greater Los Angeles, California, the nation and the world.