A Personal Message From Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH

Dear Columbia Mailman Community,

I am deeply honored to be joining you as the next Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health. I want to extend my sincere appreciation and admiration to Interim Dean Kathy Sikkema and the School’s leadership team for guiding Mailman with care, steadiness, and purpose during a period of uncertainty and change. Their leadership has positioned the School thoughtfully for the future.

I have been dedicated to public health because it provides an opportunity to do good on a large scale. Done well, public health is a tool for social justice. For more than a century, Columbia Mailman has helped define the field of public health, educated generations of leaders, conducted meaningful research, and translated knowledge into action—improving lives throughout the world. The School’s commitment to relevance, equity, and impact is evident not only in its research and teaching, but in its longstanding partnerships with communities, governments, and institutions in New York City and across the globe.

I am committed to nurturing this purpose within our student body, faculty, staff, and partners, and to ensuring a welcoming intellectual community that embraces creative ideas, respectful debate, and varied experience. Schools of public health thrive when people feel valued, challenged, and supported, and when ideas move freely across disciplines and perspectives.

I am assuming the role of Dean at a pivotal time; public health and academia are navigating a period of profound change, including shifts in funding, technology, and public trust. Columbia Mailman is an ideal place to help the nation envision the future of public health education. I have worked closely with academic institutions as a faculty member, researcher, mentor, and collaborator. I am familiar with the joy and the strain of academic life, and I believe deeply in the responsibility—and opportunity—universities have to generate knowledge that matters, prepare leaders, and engage meaningfully with the world beyond campus.

I look forward to hearing directly about your work and aspirations, learning where the School is at its strongest, understanding what we need to change, and appreciating where our most important opportunities lie.

I have long admired the outstanding work that Mailman faculty, staff, and students do in service of the School and of public health, and I am excited to work alongside you to help shape the next chapter of Columbia Mailman.

All the best,

Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH
Dean-Designate
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health