Kathleen Sikkema Named Columbia Mailman School Interim Dean
Kathleen Sikkema, Stephen Smith Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences, will serve as Interim Dean of the Columbia Mailman School, effective July 1. The announcement was made today by Claire Shipman, Acting President of Columbia University, and James McKiernan, Interim Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Acting Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences at Columbia University, and CEO of Columbia Doctors.
Dean Linda P. Fried is stepping down as dean after a remarkable 17-year tenure in the role. She will continue as a member of the faculty and director of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center.
“We could not be more grateful to [Kathleen Sikkema] for stepping in to steer the renowned Columbia Mailman School of Public Health at this critical moment,” wrote Acting President Shipman and Interim Dean McKiernan in a joint email. “We also extend our deepest appreciation to Dr. Fried for extraordinary service to Columbia and to the field of public health,” they continued.
In her own email announcement, Dean Fried wrote, “I am delighted that Dr. Kathleen Sikkema has been selected by University and Medical Center leadership to serve as Interim Dean of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, effective July 1. Dr. Sikkema and I will work closely together during the transition to ensure she is well prepared to assume her new role. A highly respected scholar and leader, Dr. Sikkema has made significant contributions that have strengthened our school’s and [Sociomedical Sciences’] mission and impact.”
Dean Fried’s email continued: “I have full confidence in her ability to lead Columbia Mailman through this transition and to continue advancing our shared goals in public health. I am deeply proud of our school and confident that it will continue to thrive under her interim leadership.”
Sikkema has made vital contributions to Columbia Mailman since joining as chair in 2019, including advancing interdisciplinary research collaboration across the school, and playing a central role in the establishment of programs focused on population mental health, such as the Global and Population Mental Health Program, which she leads, and the Susan Lasker Brody Center for Population Mental Health, of which she is co-director. Under her leadership, the department has experienced significant growth in implementation science focused on mental health, HIV, cancer, and substance use. She also oversaw the creation of a new PhD concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences.
A clinical psychologist specializing in health and community psychology, she has led pioneering scholarship for more than 35 years on mental health and HIV with wide-ranging impacts, including the development of effective community-based prevention programs and interventions to improve care engagement in low-resource settings in the United States and internationally. She led research in South Africa for 25 years, most recently conducting clinical trials to examine whether mental health treatment integrated into HIV primary care for women who have experienced sexual trauma improves HIV clinical outcomes.
Sikkema previously served as the Gosnell Family Professor of Global Health and Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, where she was the founding director of the Global Mental Health Initiative at the Duke Global Health Institute and led the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core in Duke’s Center for AIDS Research. She has held faculty positions at Yale University and the Medical College of Wisconsin and is an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from Virginia Tech.
“I am honored to be chosen to steward Columbia Mailman School during this transition,” says Sikkema. “Dean Fried leaves an extraordinary legacy, and I’m committed to building on that foundation. Though we face headwinds, our school’s brilliance lies in its people—the faculty, students, and staff whose work advances the vital work of public health education and scholarship that defines this institution. That won't change.”
