Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Impacts of Racism on the Foundations of Health.
Shonkoff JP, Slopen N, Williams DR.
Annu Rev Public Health. 2021 04 01. 42:115-134. PMID: 33497247
Primary Faculty
David Williams
Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Other Positions
Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health in the School of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
African and African American Studies -Sr. Faculty
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Affiliate of the Department of Sociology
Sociology -Other Academic
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Overview
Dr. David R. Williams is the Norman Professor of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. His prior faculty appointments were at Yale University and the University of Michigan. An internationally recognized social scientist, his research has enhanced our understanding of the complex ways in which socioeconomic status, race, stress, racism, health behavior and religious involvement can affect health. He is the author of more than 500 scientific papers and the Everyday Discrimination Scale that he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies. Dr. Williams is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He has been ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences, worldwide, and as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.
He directed the South African Stress and Health Study, the first nationally representative study of the prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in sub-Sahara Africa. He was also a key member of the scientific team that conducted the largest study of the mental health of the black population in the U.S. and the first U.S. health study to include a large national sample of Blacks of Caribbean ancestry.
He has played a visible, national leadership role in raising awareness levels of inequities in health, including serving as staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America and a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, Unnatural Causes: Is inequality Making Us Sick? His research has been featured in the national print and television media and in his TED Talk.
Ranked Number 1 in Citations in African and African American Studies worldwide 2023
ScholarGPS
William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research
Association of University Programs in Health Administration and Baxter International Foundation
Elected Honorary Fellow
Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, England
Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Harvard Faculty Humanitarian Award
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociological Study of Mental Health
American Sociological Association
Distinguished Leadership in Psychology Award, Committee on Socioeconomic Status
American Psychological Association
Ranked one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds Psychiatry/Psychology & Social Sciences
Thomson Reuters
Stephen Smith Award for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health
New York Academy of Medicine
Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology
American Sociological Association
Ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences in 2008, 2009
The Journal of Black Issues in Higher Education
Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Ranked as one of the Top Ten Most Cited Researchers in the Social Sciences in the past decade
ISI Essential Science Indicators
Decade of Behavior Research Award
Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine
National Academy of Medicine
High Honors List of Instructors
U Michigan Student Assembly (Teaching ranked in top 5% of 2,300+ courses evaluated)
Bibliography
Barriers to Mental Health Service Use and Predictors of Treatment Drop Out: Racial/Ethnic Variation in a Population-Based Study.
Green JG, McLaughlin KA, Fillbrunn M, Fukuda M, Jackson JS, Kessler RC, Sadikova E, Sampson NA, Vilsaint C, Williams DR, Cruz-Gonzalez M, Alegría M.
Adm Policy Ment Health. 2020 07. 47(4):606-616. PMID: 32076886
How Early Life Adversities Influence Later Life Family Interactions for Individuals with Schizophrenia in Outpatient Treatment: A Qualitative Analysis.
Misra S, Johnson KA, Parnarouskis LM, Koenen KC, Williams DR, Gelaye B, Borba CPC.
Community Ment Health J. 2020 08. 56(6):1188-1200. PMID: 32385585
Patterns of care and dropout rates from outpatient mental healthcare in low-, middle- and high-income countries from the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative.
Fernández D, Vigo D, Sampson NA, Hwang I, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Al-Hamzawi AO, Alonso J, Andrade LH, Bromet EJ, de Girolamo G, de Jonge P, Florescu S, Gureje O, Hinkov H, Hu C, Karam EG, Karam G, Kawakami N, Kiejna A, Kovess-Masfety V, Medina-Mora ME, Navarro-Mateu F, Ojagbemi A, O'Neill S, Piazza M, Posada-Villa J, Rapsey C, Williams DR, Xavier M, Ziv Y, Kessler RC, Haro JM.
Psychol Med. 2021 09. 51(12):2104-2116. PMID: 32343221
A Structural Model of Social Determinants of the Metabolic Syndrome.
Smith KW, Krieger N, Kosheleva A, Urato M, Waterman PD, Williams DR, Carney DR, Chen JT, Bennett GG, Freeman E.
Ethn Dis. 2020. 30(2):331-338. PMID: 32346279
Pervasive Discrimination and Allostatic Load in African American and White Adults.
Van Dyke ME, Baumhofer NK, Slopen N, Mujahid MS, Clark CR, Williams DR, Lewis TT.
Psychosom Med. 2020 04. 82(3):316-323. PMID: 32108740
Objective Measures of Sleep Apnea and Actigraphy-Based Sleep Characteristics as Correlates of Subjective Sleep Quality in an Epidemiologic Study: The Jackson Heart Sleep Study.
Johnson DA, Javaheri S, Guo N, Champion CL, Sims JF, Brock MP, Sims M, Patel SR, Williams DR, Wilson JG, Redline S.
Psychosom Med. 2020 04. 82(3):324-330. PMID: 31860528
Corrigendum to "The epidemiology of alcohol use disorders cross-nationally: Findings from the World Mental Health Surveys" [Addict. Behav. 102 (2020) 106128].
Glantz MD, Bharat C, Degenhardt L, Sampson NA, Scott KM, Lim CCW, Al-Hamzawi A, Alonso J, Andrade LH, Cardoso G, De Girolamo G, Gureje O, He Y, Hinkov H, Karam EG, Karam G, Kovess-Masfety V, Lasebikan V, Lee S, Levinson D, McGrath J, Medina-Mora ME, Mihaescu-Pintia C, Mneimneh Z, Moskalewicz J, Navarro-Mateu F, Posada-Villa J, Rapsey C, Stagnaro JC, Tachimori H, Have MT, Tintle N, Torres Y, Williams DR, Ziv Y, Kessler RC.
Addict Behav. 2020 Jul. 106:106381. PMID: 32209298
Trajectories of Online Racial Discrimination and Psychological Functioning Among African American and Latino Adolescents.
Tynes BM, English D, Del Toro J, Smith NA, Lozada FT, Williams DR.
Child Dev. 2020 09. 91(5):1577-1593. PMID: 31943164
Assessing the Role of Health Behaviors, Socioeconomic Status, and Cumulative Stress for Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Obesity.
Cuevas AG, Chen R, Slopen N, Thurber KA, Wilson N, Economos C, Williams DR.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2020 01. 28(1):161-170. PMID: 31858741
News
DEI backlash affecting research focused on racism and health
Academic institutions and researchers studying the connection between racism and health are under attack during a backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, according to those affected.
Faculty share research on mental health at ‘Public Health is Personal’ event
Faculty from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health gathered with alumni, friends, and public health allies to highlight how School is leading groundbreaking research to better understand challenges that drive mental health concerns.
Exploring the intersection of health, mindfulness, and climate change
A symposium at Harvard Chan School brought together academics, community leaders, activists, mindfulness practitioners, and monastics who studied under Thich Nhat Hanh to explore the intersection of health, mindfulness, and climate change.
Alumni Weekend 2023 focuses on equity, justice in health care
Roughly 150 Harvard Chan School alumni gathered in late September for reconnecting, networking, and learning at the annual Alumni Weekend. The focus of the event was “The Right to Health: Equity and Justice for All.”
Racism linked with obesity in children
Children who face racial discrimination are more likely to have obesity, according to a new study.
