News Release

Kenneth Warner named dean of University of Michigan School of Public Health.

May 2, 2005, press release from the University of Michigan News Service and School of Public Health.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--- Economist Kenneth Warner, an international authority on tobacco policy, has been named dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. His selection was announced today by UM President Mary Sue Coleman and Provost Paul Courant and will be effective July 1.

Warner, 58, is the Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health and founding director of the UM Tobacco Research Network. Recently he served as the World Bank's representative to negotiations that led to the World Health Organization's health treaty, the unprecedented Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

“The history of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and of the field for which we prepare our students, is one of enormous contributions to human welfare,” Warner said. “The opportunity to lead one of the world's premier institutions of public health is a great privilege and an even greater responsibility. I look forward to continuing to work, albeit in a different role, with a superb group of faculty, staff and student colleagues.”

Warner will be the sixth dean of the school, which was chartered in 1941. He will replace Dean Noreen Clark, who in 2004 announced she will step down from her position June 30 at the completion of her second five-year term, to return to full-time research and teaching. Warner assumes leadership for the school's five departments and more than 20 multidisciplinary research initiatives.

“Professor Warner is one of our most accomplished faculty members,” Courant said. “I could not be more pleased that someone with Professor Warner’s great achievements as a teacher, scholar and administrator is willing to assume the leadership of such an excellent School of Public Health at a time when public health is of great importance to the University and the nation.”

Warner earned his A.B. degree summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1968 and M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University in 1970 and 1974, respectively. He came to UM in 1972 as a lecturer and rose to the rank of professor in 1983. He served as chair of the Department of Public Health Policy and Administration (precursor to the Department of Health Management and Policy) in 1982-1988 and again 1992-1995.

Warner has been a popular teacher in the school's Department of Health Management and Policy for more than three decades. His more than 200 professional publications have focused on economic and policy aspects of disease prevention and health promotion, with a special emphasis on tobacco and health.

Warner served as the senior scientific editor of the 25th anniversary U.S. Surgeon General's report on smoking and health, published in 1989. He is on the editorial boards of four professional journals and chairs the board of the international journal, Tobacco Control. He is a consultant to many governmental bodies, voluntary organizations, and businesses. Warner was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the American Legacy Foundation and served as the president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2004-05. He has testified several times before the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.

Contact: Terri Mellow, director of communications, UM SPH
Phone: (734) 764-8094
E-mail: twm@umich.edu

Kenneth Warner