Harvard School of Public Health. Office of the Dean.

The Office of the Dean is responsible for the day-to-day operations and long-range planning for the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard School. This includes all faculty appointments, medical education, research enterprises, community relations, student issues, and relations with affilated hospitals and other offices of Harvard University.

The School for Health Officers of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) was established in 1913, the first formally organized school of public health in the United States. The administration was transferred from the Harvard-M.I.T. school to the School of Public Health under the sole auspices of Harvard University in 1922. The Dean's Office, Harvard School of Public Health, oversees the efforts of the school to fulfill its mission to carry the banner of prevention to communities and nations, and aims to help the public understand the underlying reasons for poor health, and to implement prevention measures that will ensure that all citizens are born healthy and remain so throughout their lives. Howard H. Hiatt served as the Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health from 1972 to 1984. During his tenure as Dean, Hiatt introduced teaching and research focused on molecular and cell biology, initiated programs in health policy and management, and biostatistics . Dr. Hiatt also integrated Harvard School of Public Health’s teaching and research programs with those in other Harvard University faculties in an attempt to encourage cross-disciplinary research to bring together medicine and social science in the curriculum.