01
May
2019
|
14:57 PM
America/New_York

Amy Fairchild to lead Ohio State’s College of Public Health

Amy Lauren Fairchild will be the next dean of The Ohio State University College of Public Health. Subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, her appointment will be effective July 1 through June 30, 2024.

Fairchild will join Ohio State from Texas A & M University, where she serves as associate vice president for faculty and academic affairs in the Health Science Center and formerly served as associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Public Health. She is also a professor in the university’s Department of Health Policy and Management.

Fairchild’s research and professional service have focused on public health ethics, including issues related to privacy, paternalism, panic and disease control.

Fairchild said she was initially attracted to Ohio State’s College of Public Health because of its strong relationships with other programs throughout the university and its ongoing emphasis on working with experts from a variety of disciplines.

“Public health has the capacity to bridge so many disciplines, and the college is poised to be at the hub of even more exciting things at Ohio State,” she said.

“Even before I met anyone at the college, I developed a profound respect for their work and service, but good chemistry also matters. Without exception, the students, faculty, staff and administrators were all people I would choose to work with no matter the place. I’m both thrilled and honored that these folks chose me back.”

Fairchild is the author of two books — Searching Eyes: Privacy, the State, and Disease Surveillance in America and Science at the Borders: Immigrant Medical Inspection and the Shaping of the Modern Industrial Labor Force. In addition, her work has been published in numerous scholarly journals including Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Affairs and the American Journal of Public Health.

Since 2011, Fairchild has served as co-director of Columbia University’s Collaborating Center for Health Ethics – part of the World Health Organization global bioethics network.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s in public health and doctorate in sociomedical sciences (history) from Columbia University.

In a letter sent to faculty today, Executive Vice President and Provost Bruce McPheron welcomed Fairchild to Ohio State’s academic community and commended outgoing Dean William Martin II, who is retiring.

“(Martin) has provided superb leadership of the College of Public Health during the past six years. During his tenure, he recruited more than 30 new faculty members, attracted more than $50 million in research funding and played a key role in Ohio State’s response to the opioid crisis. I thank Bill for his leadership and wish him all the best,” McPheron wrote.