Dr. Steven Woolf is a preeminent scholar whose career has profoundly shaped understanding of the social determinants of health and their impact on population outcomes. He currently serves as Director Emeritus and Senior Advisor at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health, while holding the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Distinguished Chair in Population Health and Health Equity within the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health. A distinguished physician-scientist, Dr. Woolf earned his medical degree from Emory University in 1984 and completed residency training in family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, followed by a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University in 1987. His career trajectory has been marked by visionary leadership, most notably founding the Center on Society and Health in 2007 and serving as its Director until 2018.
Dr. Woolf's groundbreaking research has illuminated the profound connections between social, economic, and environmental conditions and health outcomes, fundamentally reshaping how policymakers and health professionals understand health disparities. With over 200 scholarly publications and three edited books, his work has established critical frameworks for understanding how factors such as poverty, education, and housing influence health and contribute to inequities across populations. His research has directly informed public policy discussions, with his testimony before Congress and consulting with government agencies helping translate academic findings into practical interventions. Dr. Woolf's approach uniquely bridges clinical medicine with population health, creating a robust evidence base that demonstrates how social policies can improve health outcomes and reduce disparities.
Beyond his research contributions, Dr. Woolf has been instrumental in building bridges between academic research and public policy, collaborating with numerous institutions dedicated to advancing population health and social justice. His leadership extends to his role as a past North American editor of the British Medical Journal and his service as a senior adviser to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, where he helped shape national guidelines for preventive care. Currently, as Director Emeritus, Dr. Woolf continues to concentrate on public policy issues, writing, and partnerships aimed at addressing health inequities through systemic change. His enduring legacy lies in establishing social epidemiology as a critical field of study that informs evidence-based policymaking to create healthier communities and more equitable health outcomes for all populations.
