Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Contact, publication, and social network information about Harvard faculty and fellows.

David Williams, Ph.D.

Title
Institution
Department
Address
Phone
Profile Picture

Biography
2023
Ranked Number 1 in Citations in African and African American Studies worldwide 2023
2022
Elected Honorary Fellow
2022
William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research
2019
Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences
2019
Harvard Faculty Humanitarian Award
2017
Leonard I. Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociological Study of Mental Health
2015
Distinguished Leadership in Psychology Award, Committee on Socioeconomic Status
2014
Ranked one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds Psychiatry/Psychology & Social Sciences
2013
Stephen Smith Award for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health
2011
Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology
2008 - 2009
Ranked as the Most Cited Black Scholar in the Social Sciences in 2008, 2009
2007
Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2005
Ranked as one of the Top Ten Most Cited Researchers in the Social Sciences in the past decade
2004
Decade of Behavior Research Award
2001
Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine
1993
High Honors List of Instructors

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.

Research
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
  1. P50HD115356 (MARSH, ERICA E) May 1, 2024 - Apr 30, 2029
    NIH
    Partnering for Equity: An Academic and Community Alliance to Eliminate Disparities throughout the Fibroid Experience (PEACE)
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  2. Dean's Fund for Scientific Advancement Acceleratio (WILLIAMS, DAVID R.) Jan 15, 2020 - Jan 14, 2021
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    Reducing Stress and Overweight- and Obesity-related Chronic Diseases through Big Data and Digital Phenotyping
    Role: Principal Investigator
  3. R01HL146625 (GORTMAKER, STEVEN L) Apr 1, 2019 - Mar 31, 2024
    NIH
    Simulation Modeling and Disparities in Obesity and Chronic Disease
    Role: Co-Investigator
  4. P0131281 (WILLIAMS, DAVID R.) Aug 1, 2018 - Jul 31, 2020
    W.K. Kellogg Foundation
    Stress (Early Childhood and Politically-Related) and Health
    Role: Principal Investigator
  5. 75354 (WILLIAMS, DAVID R.) Apr 1, 2018 - Mar 31, 2021
    Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
    Building the social determinants of health of RWJF initiatives into the Culture of Health Vision, with an emphasis on racial/ethnic disparities
    Role: Principal Investigator

Bibliographic
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
Updating...
This operation might take several minutes to complete. Please do not close your browser.
Local representatives can answer questions about the Profiles website or help with editing a profile or issues with profile data. For assistance with this profile: SPH faculty should contact Faculty Affairs at facultyaffairshsph.harvard.edu. FAS faculty should contact the Office for Scholarly Communication (oschulmail.harvard.edu) for general questions about Profiles. For data questions, please contact Raelyn Lincoln (raelyn_lincolnharvard.edu) from the FAS Division of Science; Jennifer Shephard (jmshephfas.harvard.edu) from the FAS Division of Social Science; or Alexander Parker (afparkerfas.harvard.edu) from the FAS Division of Arts and Humanities.
Williams's Networks
Click the
Explore
buttons for more information and interactive visualizations!
Concepts (561)
Explore
_
Co-Authors (58)
Explore
_
Similar People (58)
Explore
_
Same Department 
Explore
_
Physical Neighbors
_
Funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program, grant number UL1TR002541.