Henry Waxman Named Centennial Policy Scholar at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Former Congressman Henry A. Waxman, one of the most accomplished legislators in the history of the U.S. Congress, joins the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for the coming year as its Centennial Policy Scholar.

Waxman, who represented California’s 33rd Congressional District for 40 years in the U.S. Congress until he retired last year, will join the Department of Health Policy and Management starting July 1, 2015. He will share his insights and expertise with students, faculty and staff for the next 12 months.

Waxman joins the School as it marks its 100^th year, dating from a century ago when it became the first independent, degree-granting institution for public health research and training in the U.S. through the present, honored with the No. 1 ranking of public health schools by U.S. News & World Report for more than 20 years.

“I am excited to be joining the inspiring students, dedicated staff and expert faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health during this year of celebration,” Waxman says. “I look forward to teaching and learning with some of the brightest minds in the country.”

“Our School, our students and our community are excited to learn from a man who has had incredible impact on the public’s health,” says Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH ‘87, dean of the Bloomberg School. “His presence at our School offers our students the unique opportunity to hear and learn from a man whose fervent passion for justice and contributions to health policy have saved millions of lives around the world.”

During Waxman’s four decades in the House of Representatives, he served as chairman and ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform. He was also chairman and ranking member of the Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.  His many legislative accomplishments included the Ryan White Care Act on HIV/AIDS, the Hatch-Waxman Act establishing generic drugs, multiple expansions of the Medicaid Program, major improvements to the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and the Affordable Care Act.  His oversight of the tobacco industry changed the nation’s perceptions of cigarettes forever.

In addition to meeting with students and faculty, Waxman will host a monthly seminar series throughout the School’s Centennial year that will bring together public health leaders, policymakers and others to explore some of the most pressing public health topics of our time, including long-term care, Medicare, mental health, climate change and tobacco control.

“As we approach the threshold of the School’s Centennial year, it is a most appropriate time to acknowledge and highlight the vital role policy has played in the health of our nation,” says Ellen MacKenzie, PhD, Fred and Julie Soper Professor and Chair of the School’s Department of Health Policy and Management. “Congressman Waxman is a policy and public health champion who has made our air and water cleaner, our children healthier, our families stronger and our seniors safer.”

The Centennial Policy Scholar Seminar Series kicks off on Wednesday, July 22, with a focus on Medicare policy.  Topics for the remainder of the fall include: long-term care (September), mental health services (October), HIV policies (November) and tobacco control (December).  

For more information, contact Susan Murrow smurrow1@jhu.edu (410) 955-7624.

The Senior Policy Scholar program in the Department of Health Policy and Management invites a former member of the U.S. Congress, cabinet-level official or governor to come to the Bloomberg School of Public Health for a year-long residence to teach and share their policy experiences.