Jo Ivey Elizabeth Boufford

Director of the Doctor of Public Health Program

Clinical Professor of Global and Environmental Health

Professional overview

Jo Ivey Boufford, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Global Health at the New York University School of Global Public Health and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at New York University  School of Medicine. She is President Emeritus of The New York Academy of Medicine and Immediate Past President of the International Society for Urban Health (2017-9). She served as Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University from June 1997 to November 2002. Prior to that, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from November 1993 to January 1997, and as Acting Assistant Secretary from January 1997 to May 1997. While at HHS, she was the U.S. representative on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1994–1997. She served in a variety of senior positions in and as President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest municipal system in the United States, from December 1985 until October 1989. In NYC, she currently serves on the Board of the United Hospital Fund, is Vice Chair of the NYS Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) and Chair of its Public Health Committee. Nationally, she is on the Boards of the National Hispanic Health Foundation and the Health Effects Institute. She was elected to membership in the US National Academy of Medicine (formerly IOM) in 1992, served on its Board on Global Health, and served two four year terms as its Foreign Secretary from 2003 to 2011, She was elected to membership of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2015. She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. Boufford attended Wellesley College for two years and received her BA (Psychology) magna cum laude from the University of Michigan, and her MD, with distinction, from the University of Michigan Medical School. She is Board Certified in pediatrics.

Education

BA, Psychology (Magna Cum Laude), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

MD, Medicine (with distinction), University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI

Honors and awards

Honorary Doctorate of Science, Toledo University, Toledo, OH (2012)

Honorary Doctorate of Science, Pace University, New York, NY (2011)

Top 100 Most Influential Women, Crain's New York Business (2007)

Honorary Doctorate of Science, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY (2007)

Honorary Doctorate of Science, State University of New York, Brooklyn, NY (1992)

Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship, Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC (1980)

Areas of research and study

Aging and the Life Course

Gates Foundation

Health Disparities

Health Promotion

International Health

New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation

Prevention Interventions

Public Administration

Public Health Management

Public Health Policy

Public Health Systems

US Department of Health and Human Services

World Health Organization