Symposium Honoring Dr. Milton C. Weinstein

Headshot of Milton Weinstein.

A symposium and celebratory reception were held at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to honor the career achievements of Dr. Milton C. Weinstein.

Opening remarks were led by Michelle Williams, Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Arnold Epstein, Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management. Dean Williams noted Milt’s 45-year tenure on the Harvard faculty and four academic degrees from Harvard, while Professor Epstein declared Milt the “bedrock of health decision science.” Other speakers included former students and current and past colleagues: Lee Goldman, cardiologist and Dean at Columbia Medical Center, reflected on their quintessential MD-PhD collaboration that produced innumerable papers, including the infamous coronary heart disease model; Alexia Antczak-Bouckoms, Milt’s first doctoral student, credited him with teaching her to “figure out what best to do”; and Kenneth Freedberg declared Milt “a genius.” Current faculty, all former trainees of Milt’s, spoke to his impact on their lives, both personally and professionally: Myriam Hunink, Uwe Siebert, and Sue J. Goldie.

Milton Weinstein is the Henry J. Kaiser Professor of Health Policy and Management and Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. He created the Program in Health Decision Science in the 1980s, directed the Program on Economic Evaluation of Medical Technology in the 1990s, and is currently Academic Director of the Center for Health Decision Science and Faculty Chair of the Comparative Effectiveness Research Initiative, both at the Harvard Chan School. He well known for his research on cost-effectiveness of medical practices and for developing methods of economic evaluation and decision analysis in health care. In collaboration with clinical scientists, he pioneered the use of decision science methods to assess clinical strategies and technologies to prevent, diagnose, and treat cardiovascular disease, cancer, and infectious diseases. He is a co-developer of the CEPAC (Cost-Effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications) computer simulation model and directed a similar modeling effort in coronary heart disease. Dr. Weinstein co-chaired the first U.S. Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine, and has served on numerous national committees, including the Committee on Priorities for New Vaccine Development. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and a recipient of the Award for Career Achievement from the Society for Medical Decision Making and the Avedis Donabedian Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. He has published over 350 scientific articles, 29 book chapters, and 5 books. A renowned educator, Dr. Weinstein created the first course on decision analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health in the 1970s. Since then, he has taught and mentored thousands of graduate students and fellows. He holds an A.B. and M.A. in Applied Mathematics, and an M.P.P. and Ph.D. in Public Policy, all from Harvard University.

We at CHDS wish Milt all our best!

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