Michael H Merson

Interim Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Clinical Professor of Global and Environmental Health

Professional overview

Michael Merson is Interim Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and a Clinical Professor of Global and Environmental Health at NYU. He also the William Joklik Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Global Health at Duke University, where he served as the founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute and as Vice President and Vice Provost for Global Affairs. His current research is focused on policy issues related to the response to pandemics, evaluating the rollout of Paxlovid in low-income countries and on ways to regain trust in public health.

Prior to NYU, he joined the faculty at Yale University as its first Dean of Public Health. Before entering academia, between 1980 and 1995, Dr. Merson served as director of the World Health Organization (WHO) programs on Diarrheal Diseases and Acute Respiratory Infections, and subsequently the WHO Global Program on AIDS. He has authored over 150 articles, is the senior editor of a leading global health textbook “Global Health: Disease, Programs, Systems, and Policies” and lead author of The AIDS Pandemic: Searching for a Global Response on the history of the global response to AIDS. He has served in advisory capacities for UNAIDS, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, World Bank, World Economic Forum, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and was an advisor to various private sector entities on the COVID-19 pandemic. He has two honorary degrees and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Education

B.A., 1966, cum laude, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts

M.D., 1970, summa cum laude, SUNY, Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, New York

Honors and awards

Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) Distinguished Leadership Award (2018)

Duke Medical Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award (2017)

Master Teacher Award in Preventive Medicine, Downstate Medical Center (2010)

Outstanding Contribution to the Campaign Against HIV/AIDS, Russian Association Against AIDS (2000)

Connecticut Health Commissioner’s AIDS Leadership Award (1998)

Connecticut Health Commissioner’s AIDS Leadership Award (1997)

Frank Babbott Alumni Award (1995)

Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal (1993)

Commendation Medal, US Public Health Service; (1986)

Arthur S. Flemming Award for Outstanding Federal Service (1983)

Commendation Medal, US Public Health Service (1975)

Publications

Publications

Salmonellosis in the united states, 1968-1974

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Travelers' Diarrhea in Mexico : A Prospective Study of Physicians and Family Members Attending a Congress

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A CONTINUING COMMON-SOURCE OUTBREAK OF BOTULISM IN A FAMILY

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A new criterion for implicating Clostridium perfringens as the cause of food poisoning

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DIARRHŒA ASSOCIATED WITH HEAT-STABLE ENTEROTOXIN-PRODUCING STRAINS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI

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EPIDEMIOLOGY OF WATERBORNE DISEASE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1971-1973.

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Food borne disease outbreaks in the United States, 1973

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From the Center for Disease Control : outbreaks of waterborne for disease control: outbreaks of Waterborne disease in the United States, 1973

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Gastrointestinal Illness on Passenger Cruise Ships

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Shigellosis at sea : An outbreak aboard a passenger cruise ship

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Toxigenic Turista

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Travelers’ Diarrhea

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An outbreak of Shigella sonnei gastroenteritis on colorado river raft trips

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Current Trends in Botulism in the United States

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Outbreaks of waterbone disease in the United States, 1971-1972

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Scombroid Fish Poisoning : Outbreak Traced to Commercially Canned Tuna Fish

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Surveillance of foodborne disease in the United States, 1971-1972

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Epidemiologic, Clinical and Laboratory Aspects of Wound Botulism

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Origin of pleural fluid amylase in esophageal rupture.

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