Nancy Krieger is a distinguished Social Epidemiologist whose work has profoundly shaped the understanding of social determinants of health. She serves as Professor of Social Epidemiology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and directs the Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health. With a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley (1989), she brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective integrating biochemistry, philosophy of science, and history of public health to her work. Dr. Krieger joined the Harvard faculty in 1995 and has established herself as a leading authority on health inequities and social justice.
Dr. Krieger's groundbreaking research has centered on developing and applying ecosocial theory to understand how structural racism and social inequalities shape health outcomes across populations. Her innovative work spans over 35 years of activism linking social justice, science, and health, with particular focus on race, class, and health disparities in the United States. She became a Clarivate/ISI highly cited scientist in 2004, with her ranking reaffirmed in 2015, 2022, 2023, and 2024, placing her among "less than one-half of one percent of all publishing researchers." Her 2020 American Journal of Epidemiology "Paper of the Year" was the first study to examine the relationship between historical redlining and cancer stage at diagnosis. Additionally, her influential work arguing that law enforcement-related deaths should be classified as a "notifiable condition" has reshaped public health surveillance approaches.
Beyond her research, Dr. Krieger has been instrumental in advancing the field through her co-founding of the Spirit of 1848 Caucus of the American Public Health Association, which addresses the critical links between social justice and public health. She is the author of foundational texts including "Epidemiology and the People's Health: Theory and Context" and "Ecosocial Theory, Embodied Truths, and the People's Health," and serves as editor of Oxford's Small Books, Big Ideas in Population Health series. Her exceptional contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Wade Hampton Frost Award (2013), the American College of Epidemiology's "Outstanding Contributions to Epidemiology" award (2020), and the Sedgwick Memorial Medal for Distinguished Service in Public Health (2023). Currently, she continues to challenge public health practitioners to deconstruct data for health equity, emphasizing the essential historical and socio-ecological context behind health statistics.
