Hampshire College

Richard A. Aronson, visiting professor of public health, received his B.A. from Amherst College, his M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and his M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health (MCH). He has a wide range of leadership experience and community involvement in public health at the local, state, and national levels. He has served as the State MCH Medical Director in Vermont, Wisconsin, and Maine.

As a pediatrician, teacher, mentor, and maternal and child health leader, he seeks to put into practice the highest ideals of public health, public service, and medicine. His work focuses on social justice as the foundation for public health and on research and action to end health disparities and inequalities locally and globally.

His leadership has contributed to public policy that frames public health within an ecologic context that is rooted in family and community empowerment, resilience, social connections, cultural and linguistic competence, physical and emotional safety, and human rights. His focus on racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality, child abuse prevention, and the impact of childhood experiences on adult health has helped unite multiple diverse stakeholders to discover common ground and improve health outcomes. He has concentrated his recent work on teaching, mentoring, and inspiring students who are interested and excited about public health as a uniquely inter-disciplinary field of study and community engagement. In 2009, he helped a group of Five-College students form a Public Health Collaborative at Amherst College.

His honors include the John C. MacQueen Lecture Award of the Association of MCH Programs (2004), the Ray Helfer MD Award from the Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds and American Academy of Pediatrics (2007), the Sydney S. Chipman Award of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health (1995), and the Wisconsin Outstanding Pediatrician of the Year (1999).

Affiliations
School of Natural Science

Recent Courses
Public Health and Community Engagement (Spring 2011)
Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Competence as a Central Strategy to Address Health Disparities (Spring 2011)
Health Disparities (Fall 2010)
Understanding Cultural and Linguistic Competence as a Central Strategy to Address Health Disparities (Spring 2010)