Allan M. Brandt

Allan M. Brandt

Professor of the History of Science
Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine
ON LEAVE FALL 2023 / SPRING 2024
Allan M. Brandt

Areas of Research: Global Health / Public Health, History of Medicine, Medical Humanities, Science Policy

Allan M. Brandt is the Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine and Professor of the History of Science.  He holds a joint appointment between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School.  Brandt served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2008 to 2012.  He earned his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in American History from Columbia University.  His work focuses on social and ethical aspects of health, disease, medical practices, and global health in the twentieth century.  Brandt is the author of No Magic Bullet:  A  Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880 (1987); and co-editor of Morality and Health (1997).  He has written on the social history of epidemic disease; the history of public health and health policy; and the history of human experimentation among other topics.  His book on the social and cultural history of cigarette smoking in the U.S., The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America, was published by Basic Books in 2007 (paperback, 2009).   The book received the Bancroft Prize from Columbia University in 2008 and the Welch Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine in 2011.  Brandt has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is currently writing about the impact stigma has on patients and health outcomes.

Curriculum Vitae
 

Courses:
 

  • Historical Study A-34: Medicine and Society in America
  • Freshman Seminar 48m: The Tobacco Pandemic: History, Culture, Science and Policy
  • History of Science 244: Research in the History of Medical Ethics: Seminar

Publications:
 

Contact Information

p: (617) 495-3532

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