Harvey Vernon Fineberg (born September 15, 1945) is an American physician. A noted researcher in the fields of health policy and medical decision making, his past research has focused on the process of policy development and implementation, assessment of medical technology, evaluation and use of vaccines, and dissemination of medical innovations. Fineberg has held several prominent positions over the course of his career, including Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, Provost of Harvard University, and President of the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine.
Education and training
Fineberg earned an A.B. in 1967 from Harvard College and a M.D. in 1971 from Harvard Medical School. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, a Harvard-affiliated hospital in Boston. He worked as a practicing physician at two Boston-area health centers from 1974 to 1984.
He taught at Harvard Kennedy School from 1973 to 1981, and served on the faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health from 1973 to 1984, when he became the school's dean. He led the School of Public Health for 13 years before becoming the University Provost for 4 more years. In 2002, he became president of the Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine), where he ended his tenure in 2014.
Harvey Fineberg in 2021 by Christopher Michel
Dr. Fineberg is co-author of the books Clinical Decision Analysis, Innovators in Physician Education, and The Epidemic that Never Was, also published under the title The Swine Flu Affair, an analysis of the controversial federal immunization program against swine flu in 1976. He has co-edited several books on such diverse topics as AIDS prevention, vaccine safety, and understanding risk in society. He has also authored numerous articles published in professional journals.
He has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Joseph W. Mountin Prize from the Centers for Disease Control, the Wade Hampton Frost Prize from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association, the Calderone Prize in Public Health from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, awarded Dr. Fineberg the highest prize in public health, from Academyhealth, and honorary degrees from a number of universities, including a Doctor of Laws from Harvard University in 2018.[1]
Fineberg is married to Dr. Mary E. Wilson, a noted expert in infectious diseases, travel medicine, and global health and adjunct professor at Harvard School of Public Health and visiting professor at University of California, San Francisco.
