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Williams Research Group

Dr. David R. Williams is the Norman Professor of Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology at Harvard. His research focuses on the ways in which race, socioeconomic status, racism, stress, health behaviors and religious involvement can affect health. The Everyday Discrimination Scale that he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies.

Phone 617-432-6807
Location

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Kresge Building, Room 615

Awards

Ranked number one in citations in African and African American Studies, ScholarGPS, 2023

Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine (formerly, Institute of Medicine), 2001 PDF

Decade of Behavior Research Award, 2004

Doctor of Science, honoris causa, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI, 2004

Ranked as one of the Top Ten Most Cited Researchers in the Social Sciences in the past decade (Jan. 1, 1995 to Aug. 31, 2005), ISI Essential Science Indicators, 2005

Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007

Ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences in 2008, The Journal of Black Issues in Higher Education, 2009

Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology, American Sociological Association, 2011

Stephen Smith Award for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health, New York Academy of Medicine, 2013

Top Blacks in Healthcare, BlackDoctor.org and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, 2014

Lemuel Shattuck Award for Significant Contributions to the Field of Public Health, Massachusetts Public Health Association, 2014

Ranked as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (in two fields: Psychiatry/Psychology and Social Sciences, General), based on articles published between 2002 and 2012, Thomson Reuters, 2014

Distinguished Leadership in Psychology Award, Committee on Socioeconomic Status, American Psychological Association, 2015

Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociological Study of Mental Health, American Sociological Association, 2017

Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2019

St. Lucia Medal of Merit (Gold), Government of St. Lucia, 2020

Goodwill Ambassador, Government of St Lucia, 2020-2023

Elected Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, England, 2022

William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research, Association of University Programs in Health Administration and Baxter International Foundation, 2022

Doctor of Science, honoris causa, College of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, 2023

David R. Williams receives 2017 Leonard I Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions

David R. Williams is winnner of the 2011 Leo G. Reeder Award

St Lucian scholar ranked number one in the World among Black Scholar Scientists, 2009

U-M professor urges black Americans to fight for equal health care, 2004