UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor appointed new associate dean for research

Dr. James A. Macinko, a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, has been named the school’s new associate dean for research.

“Dr. Macinko’s significant experience conducting important health services and policy research at the local, state, national, and global levels spanning nearly 30 years has prepared him well for this role,” said Dr. Ron Brookmeyer, UCLA Fielding School dean and distinguished professor of biostatistics. “He is a leading scholar on the organization, financing, delivery, and impact of primary health care, having refined instruments for the measurement of different primary care functions and demonstrated how their achievement is associated with improved health outcomes, reduced health inequalities, and enhanced health system efficiency.”

Macinko’s research also focuses on the complexities of design, implementation, impact, and diffusion of public policies intended to reduce the harms associated with tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. He has served as a principal investigator or similar leadership roles on more than 25 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIAAA, NIAID, NICHD); the National Science Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and international organizations including the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, World Health Organization, and Pan American Health Organization.

Additionally, he is the author or co-author of more than 150 published articles and editorials in journals that include The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, Nature Human Behavior, and the American Journal of Epidemiology. His research publications have been extensively cited and referenced by international organizations and country health strategies and legislation.

Prior to joining the UCLA Fielding School faculty, Macinko served as a professor of public health and health policy at New York University (NYU), where he also served as director of NYU’s MPH program. He earned his MA in International Affairs at George Washington University and his PhD in Health and Social Policy at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was also a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and a Fulbright Scholar at the National School of Public Health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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 761 students from 26 nations engaged in carrying out the vision of building healthy futures in greater Los Angeles, California, the nation and the world.