Ronald Bayer, PhD

Professor, Department of Sociomedical Sciences

Phone: (212) 305-1957
Fax: (212) 305-6832
Email: rb8@columbia.edu 

Ronald Bayer, PhD is Professor at the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, where he has taught since 1988. He has taken a leadership role in the HIV Center's work on ethics since the Center's beginnings and is currently a member of the Development Core.

Prior to coming to Columbia, he was at the Hastings Center, a research institute devoted to the study of ethical issues in medicine and the life sciences. Dr. Bayer's research has examined ethical and policy issues in public health, with a special focus on AIDS, tuberculosis, illicit drugs, and tobacco. His broader goal is to develop an ethics of public health. He is an elected member of the IOM, serves on its Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and has served on IOM committees dealing with the social impact of AIDS, tuberculosis elimination, vaccine safety, smallpox vaccination, and the Ryan White Care Act. His articles on AIDS have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, the American Journal of Public Health, and The Milbank Quarterly.

His books include Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis (1981), Private Acts, Social Consequences: AIDS and the Politics of Public Health (1989); AIDS in the Industrialized Democracies: Passions, Politics and Policies (1991, edited with David Kirp); Confronting Drug Policy: Illicit Drugs in a Free Society (1993, edited with Gerald Oppenheimer);  Blood Feuds: Blood, AIDS and the Politics of Medical Disaster (1999, edited with Eric Feldman); AIDS Doctors: Voices from the Epidemic, (2000, written with Gerald Oppenheimer); Mortal Secrets: Truth and Lies in the Age of AIDS (2003, written with Robert Klitzman); Unfiltered: Conflicts over Tobacco Policy and Public Health (2004, edited with Eric Feldman); Public Health Ethics: Theory, Policy, and Practice (2006, edited with L.O. Gostin, B. Jennings and B. Steinbock; Shattered Dreams? An Oral History of the South African AIDS Epidemic (2007, written with Gerald Oppenheimer); and Searching Eyes: Privacy, the State, and Disease Surveillance in America (2007, edited with A. Fairchild and J. Colgrove).

EDUCATION

Harpur College (SUNY), Binghamton, NY    
BA - 1964 - Political Science

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
MA - 1967 - Political Science

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL    
PhD - 1976 - Political Science

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1978-1988: Associate for Policy Studies, The Hastings Center, Briarcliff Manor, NY

1988-1991: Associate Professor, Columbia University School of Public Health, New York, NY

1988-1993: Senior Advisor, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY

1991-present: Professor, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY

1993-1995: Principal Investigator, Ethical, Policy and Legal Core, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY

2000-2004: Institute of Medicine, Immunization Safety Review Committee

2002-2004: Committee on Epidemiological Data and the Ryan White CARE Act

2002-2005: Director, Ethics, Policy, and Human Rights Core, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY

2003-2005: Institute of Medicine, Smallpox Vaccination Review

2003-present: Institute of Medicine, Board of Population Health

2005-present: Co-Director, Ethics and Policy Core, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY

HONORS

1989: Private Acts, Social Consequences: AIDS and the Politics of Public Health. New York Times Notable Books of the Year, Outstanding Books, American Library Association: Choice, 1990 Britannica Book of the Year

1995-2000: National Institute of Mental Health Senior Scientist Award (K05)

2001-2004: Member, Institute of Medicine, Committee on Epidemiological Data and the Ryan White CARE Act

2001-present: Member, Institute of Medicine, Board of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

2002: AIDS Doctors - A Choice Book of the Year

2002: Institute of Medicine, Elected Member

2008-present: Member, Ethics Subcommittee, Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention