Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives
Washington University in St Louis
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Sandro Galea, is a physician, epidemiologist, and author, and currently serves as the Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health, and the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. He previously held academic and leadership positions at Boston University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the New York Academy of Medicine.
Born in Malta, Sandro is an immigrant twice over, moving to Canada at the age of 14, then to the United States in his late 20s. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Toronto, Sandro traveled to Somalia through Doctors Without Borders. It was there he had a defining realization. “…I got this feeling, like I’m standing on the side of the river, pulling people out. I was doing that over and over and over again. And I felt I was doing a lot of good, but I also knew that once I left, the same thing would keep happening. So I really wanted to understand who was throwing people in the river to begin with.” This experience inspired him to switch careers, "leaving the immediate gratification of medicine to labor in the vineyard of public health." Read more about Sandro’s experiences in "The Other End of the River" by Barbara Moran.
Sandro went on to receive graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University to pursue his career at “the other end of the river” — a career in public health. In 2015, he became the dean of Boston University School of Public Health.
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PL05.05 - Honorary Fellow Award
Friday, April 18, 2025
11:02 AM – 11:05 AM PST
PL05.06 - Public Health at the Crossroads: SOPHE 2025 Honorary Fellow Address
Friday, April 18, 2025
11:05 AM – 11:45 AM PST