 
Dr. Michael Merson |
Professor of Public Health
Dr. Michael Merson, the new Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health, is dean and chair of the School of Medicine's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH) and is a noted authority on AIDS and AIDS prevention.
Merson is also director of Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA), which was established in 1997 to support primary and secondary research and studies of AIDS policy issues. He focuses his own work on the prevention of HIV and AIDS in vulnerable and underserved populations in the United States and abroad.
Merson is also an authority on the epidemiology of diarrheal diseases, including cholera, in developing countries. He is the coeditor of "International Public Health: Diseases, Programs, Systems and Policies" and is coauthor of numerous book chapters on infectious diseases and other subjects. In addition, he has written over 150 articles on subjects ranging from foodborne diseases to intestinal illnesses and the effectiveness of HIV interventions in developing countries.
Merson earned his B.A. at Amherst College and his M.D. at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn. After completing his internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he supervised the medical ward aboard the hospital ship "USS Hope" in northeast Brazil. He then spent six years working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he rose to become the chief medical epidemiologist at the Cholera Research Laboratory in Bangladesh.
From 1978 until 1995, when he joined the Yale School of Medicine as dean, Merson worked for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. During his tenure there he was medical officer of the Diarrhoeal Diseases Control Programme for several years and then became director of the Acute Respiratory Infections Control Programme 1987-1990. From 1990 to 1995, he headed the worldwide effort to control the AIDS epidemic as the director, then executive director, of the WHO's Global Programme on AIDS.
At Yale, Merson holds a joint appointment in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies.The Yale dean also directs the AIDS International Training and Research Program, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health Fogarty Center, in Russia, China, India and South Africa. He has been a consultant to the World Bank and to its AIDS prevention projects in such countries as India, Russia, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Madagascar. He has chaired several national panels and committees focused on the prevention of AIDS and other diseases.
The recipient of the Surgeon General Exemplary Service Medal in 1993, Merson has also been honored with two U.S. Public Health Service's Commendation Medals for his contributions to public health. His other honors include the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the Frank Bobbott Alumni Award, the Connecticut Health Commissioner's AIDS Leadership Award and an award for "Outstanding Contribution to the Campaign Against HIV/AIDS" from the Russian Association Against AIDS.
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Final Tercentennial weekend will include convocation, Bowl gala
Entrepreneur-environmentalist Edward Bass named Yale trustee
University announces major enhancements to financial aid
School of Music building now named Leigh Hall
Yale AIDS vaccine shows promise for humans
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Michael Merson named Lauder Professor of Public Health
Two scientists are appointed to Bliss Professorships in Public HealthZhao named Hiscock Professor of Public Health, Genetics
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Display explores life and work of Colonial-era Jewish silversmith
Yale Rep opens season with 'splendid confection' by Shaw
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'Gender Matters' conference to explore role of women at Yale
Yale Employee Day at Bowl features free admission, treats
Aboard the BioBus
Symposium will reflect on work of Yale alumni architects
President Richard C. Levin presents Freshman Address
Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead presents remarks to Freshman Assembly
Graduate students enter the 'creative milieu' of Yale
Scenes from Moving-In Day 2001
Symposium on the conservation of early Italian paintings . . .
Committee to search for British Art Center director
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