- Faculty & Staff, Message from the Dean, Students
- May 6, 2024
Dear colleagues,
I write today to note a personal transition. I have recently told President Freeman, incoming President Gilliam, and Provosts Lutchen and Antman that at the end of 2024 I shall step down as Dean of the School of Public Health, paving the way for the next generation of leadership at the school who can lead the school into its 50th anniversary and the future.
I have had the enormous privilege of serving as Dean of this school since the beginning of 2015. I have had the good fortune of working with wonderful colleagues and friends, contributing to a school I care deeply about, and shepherding a new generation of scholars and scientists who are going to be the future of this school, and of public health, in coming decades. For all this I am so very grateful.
The decision to step down emerges, as these things often do, from a confluence of factors.
Centrally, the School is in a place of tremendous strength, firmly established as one of the leading schools of public health in the world, with a thriving faculty, staff, and student community who will see to its success in future. I will by the end of this year have served as Dean for 10 years. It was always my intention to seriously reconsider my engagement at that time, seeing it as important for renewal in leadership, bringing fresh ideas and energy to keep an institution vital. I am acutely aware of the upcoming 50th anniversary in 2026. While I would have really enjoyed leading us to the 50th anniversary, to celebrate the school during that year, it seems more right that a new dean can be the one to celebrate the anniversary, using the anniversary to build momentum for the coming decade.
This also couples with an opportunity that has opened up for both my spouse, Margaret, and me, that will represent the next phase in our careers. Starting in January 2025 I will be taking the position of inaugural dean of a new School of Public Health that is being established at Washington University in St. Louis. Starting a new school is a different engagement than what my responsibility set was here in Boston, but hopefully one that benefits from my experience over the past decade. It also represents an opportunity to give back in a different way to public health, in a different region of the country, to engage in building for local and global impact in a new context. At the same time Margaret has an opportunity to build a university-wide center at WashU that extends her work in health systems scholarship and research, to bring a new generation of scholars in the area to a university that is engaging with a vibrant and growing area of scholarship.
Such a change entails, I must confess, a fair bit of self-reflection, of looking back and looking forward. I have deep affection and respect for Boston University; it is difficult to imagine not being here. I am proud of what we have achieved together, and I will always admire the School and what it will achieve in the coming decades. We shall have another 8 months together and I look forward to opportunities to reflect when the time is appropriate. When the time comes, I am going to miss the SPH community tremendously.
Meanwhile, Provosts Lutchen and Antman will share next steps around the appointment of a successor in the coming months, and the School will have extensive opportunity for consultation and engagement with the process. More on that will be forthcoming.
I shall say this in person to all members of our community in coming months, but to say it here first: thank you. Thank you for the privilege of being a member of this community for a decade, for what we have built together, and for the joy of seeing such a wonderful community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni thrive and make a real contribution to creating a better world.