Thomas A. LaVeist, Ph.D. is Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Director of the Center for Health Disparities Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He received his bachelor degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Ph.D. in medical sociology from the University of Michigan and postdoctoral fellowship in public health at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. His dissertation was awarded the 1989 Outstanding Dissertation in Medical Sociology Award by the American Sociological Association. He was appointed as a fellow at the Brookdale Foundation in 1992.

Dr. LaVeist joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1990, where he teaches courses in minority health and public health policy. He is a frequent visiting lecturer on minority health issues at other universities. He is also a frequent speaker at professional conferences and workshops sponsored by leading public health professional associations. Dr. LaVeist consults often with federal agencies and healthcare organizations on minority health and cultural competency issues and racial disparities in health. He has conducted several important studies of minority health. His research on minority health has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Center for Disease Control, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Brookdale Foundation, Commonwealth Fund, Russell Sage Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Dr. LaVeist has published numerous articles in scientific journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Epidemiology, American Journal of Sociology, Milbank Quarterly, Medical Care, Ethnicity and Disease, Health Services Research, and Social Science & Medicine. He has also written articles for Newsweek Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine and the Baltimore Sun. His edited volume, Race, Ethnicity and Health (Jossey-Bass Publishers) was published fall 2002. His new book, Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Race, Ethnicity and Health in the United States, was published April 2005 Jossey-Bass Publishers. He is also the author of The DayStar Guide to Colleges for African American Students, and co-author of “8 Steps to Help Black Families Pay for College”.