2022-Gala Program Online Honoree -4.14.2022

HONOREE
SUSAN C. SCRIMSHAW ’67, PhD
National Academy of Medicine
Susan Scrimshaw was president of Russell Sage
College from 2008 until her retirement in 2017.
She had previously been president of Simmons
College, dean of the School of Public Health at the
University of Illinois at Chicago, and associate dean
of public health and a professor of public health
and anthropology at the University of California,
Los Angeles. After graduating from Barnard, she earned a doctorate in
anthropology from Columbia University.
Dr. Scrimshaw’s research uses community participatory methods to
examine health disparities, pregnancy outcomes, health communication,
and culturally appropriate delivery of healthcare.
She currently serves on the board of directors of the Capital District
Physicians’ Health Plan in Albany, New York, and of Speare Memorial
Hospital in Plymouth, New Hampshire, and she recently chaired the
National Academy of Sciences Committee on Birth Settings, co-editing its
report, Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access and Choice
(National Academies Press, 2020). She is lead editor of the second edition
of The Handbook of Social Studies in Health and Medicine (SAGE, 2021).
Previously, she served on the Chicago and Illinois State Boards of Health
and the New York State Minority Health Council. In addition, she served as
president of the Society for Medical Anthropology, and is a former chair of
the Association of Schools of Public Health. She was also a member of the
board of governors of the US-Mexico Foundation for Science, serving as
board president for three years.
Dr. Scrimshaw’s honors include the Yarmolinsky Medal given by the National
Academy of Medicine for distinguished service, the Margaret Mead Award
from the American Anthropological Association, and a Hero of Public Health
gold medal awarded by President Vicente Fox of Mexico. She is a fellow of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American
Anthropological Association. When she was elected to the National Academy
of Medicine in 1993, she and her father, Dr. Nevin S. Scrimshaw, became the
first father/daughter duo members of the Academy.