Howard Frumkin

Howard Frumkin is Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health, where he served as Dean from 2010-2016.

He is an internist, environmental and occupational medicine specialist, and epidemiologist, who has worked in academia and public service, including serving as Senior Vice President of Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit that protects land and creates parks and greenspaces; leading the “Our Planet, Our Health” initiative at the Wellcome Trust in London; directing the National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and serving as Professor and Chair of Environmental and Occupational Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Emory Medical School.

In addition to his role with the Planetary Health Alliance, his community and professional activities have included serving on numerous National Academy of Sciences committees, on the Boards of the Bullitt Foundation, the Seattle Parks Foundation, the Washington State Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Green Building Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Public Health Association, and the National Environmental Education Foundation, and on advisory committees to the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (Columbia University), the Harvard Center on Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health (George Mason University), and the European Centre on Environment and Human Health (University of Exeter).

He is author or co-author of over 300 scientific journal articles and chapters, and his ten books include Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-Being, and Sustainability (2nd Edition, 2022, with Nisha Botchwey and Andy Dannenberg), Environmental Health: From Global to Local (3rd Edition, 2016), Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves (2020, with Sam Myers), and Planetary Health: Safeguarding Human Health and the Environment in the Anthropocene (2021, with Andy Haines).

Dr. Frumkin was educated at Brown (A.B.), the University of Pennsylvania (M.D.), and Harvard (M.P.H. and Dr.P.H.).  He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Washington State Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and a Hagler Fellow at Texas A&M University.  He lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, the ancestral land of the Suquamish People, where he loves to cycle, kayak, and hike.  He is married to journalist Joanne Silberner, and has two children, Gabe, an attorney, and Amara, a pediatrician.

In addition to his role with the Planetary Health Alliance, his community and professional activities have included serving on numerous National Academy of Sciences committees, on the Boards of the Bullitt Foundation, the Seattle Parks Foundation, the Washington State Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Green Building Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the American Public Health Association, and the National Environmental Education Foundation, and on advisory committees to the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (Columbia University), the Harvard Center on Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health (George Mason University), and the European Centre on Environment and Human Health (University of Exeter).

He is author or co-author of over 300 scientific journal articles and chapters, and his ten books include Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-Being, and Sustainability (2nd Edition, 2022, with Nisha Botchwey and Andy Dannenberg), Environmental Health: From Global to Local (3rd Edition, 2016), Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves (2020, with Sam Myers), and Planetary Health: Safeguarding Human Health and the Environment in the Anthropocene (2021, with Andy Haines).

Dr. Frumkin was educated at Brown (A.B.), the University of Pennsylvania (M.D.), and Harvard (M.P.H. and Dr.P.H.). He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Washington State Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and a Hagler Fellow at Texas A&M University. He lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, the ancestral land of the Suquamish People, where he loves to cycle, kayak, and hike. He is married to journalist Joanne Silberner, and has two children, Gabe, an attorney, and Amara, a pediatrician.