With a rich history of innovation to save lives through rigorous scientific research and community collaboration, the Yale School of Public Health brings the robust resources of one of the world’s premiere universities to protect and improve the public’s health. As the new Dean, Dr. Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, FACEP, an internationally recognized public health investigator, communicator, advocate, and clinician-scientist, will lead the Yale School of Public Health on its historic transition to a self-supporting independent graduate school at Yale University. Dr. Ranney believes that inclusion and community, innovation and entrepreneurship, communication, and data-driven leadership are at the crux of the future of public health. In this moment of both university and global transition in the field, the Yale School of Public Health’s world-renowned faculty, staff, and students are working together to ensure that we are studying, educating, and practicing public health to meet our goal of having the greatest impact on human health across the globe.
Dr. Ranney, an emergency medicine physician and the former Deputy Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, brings to Yale a remarkable track record of driving innovations in public health teaching, research, and practice. Her career is distinguished by a deep commitment to working with communities to identify and address complex public health challenges, especially those that burden historically underserved or marginalized populations. A leader in creating and implementing community-driven approaches to solve longstanding and emerging public health problems, she has worked with diverse groups to address firearm injury, COVID-19, and the use of digital technology to promote population-level health. Her funded research focuses primarily on developing, testing, and disseminating technology-augmented interventions to prevent violence and related behavioral health problems, such as substance use and mental illness. She is most widely known for her work on firearm injury as a public health problem.
She has held multiple national leadership roles, including Co-Founder and Senior Strategic Advisor for the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM) at the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit committed to ending the gun violence epidemic through a non-partisan public health approach, and Co-Founder of GetUsPPE, a start-up nonprofit that delivered donated personal protective equipment to those who needed it most. She is a Fellow of the fifth class of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovators Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Opioid Abatement Trust. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Ranney has received numerous awards for technology innovation, public health, and research, including Rhode Island “Woman of the Year” and the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Policy Pioneer Award. A leading public voice on urgent topics in health and medicine, she frequently offers expert analysis to external groups, such as through testimony to Congress and guidance for non-governmental organizations. She is a frequent media commentator and author of op-eds for outlets ranging from PBS to the BBC, CNN to Fox News, and The Wall Street Journal to The New York Times.
Dr. Ranney earned her bachelor's degree in history of science, graduating summa cum laude, from Harvard University; her medical doctorate, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha, from Columbia University; and her master’s degree in public health from Brown University. She completed her residency in Emergency Medicine and a fellowship in Injury Prevention Research at Brown University. She was previously a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cote d'Ivoire.
Yale School of Public Health Dean Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, was honored today as one of 50 individuals and companies driving advances in medicine, fostering innovation, and shaping the future of biopharma and health care. Ranney was honored in the ‘Social Impact’ category for her leadership, research, and advocacy in working to prevent firearm injuries.
Dr. Megan Ranney became the new dean of the Yale School of Public Health on July 1, 2023. An emergency physician and innovative leader in public health, Ranney is nationally known for her advocacy and research on firearm injury prevention as well as her community-driven approaches to addressing longstanding and emerging public health problems. As dean, she will oversee the school’s historic transition to a fully independent, self-sustaining professional school.
In this Q&A, Dean Ranney lays out the four pillars of our school that she believes define the future of our field: inclusivity, innovation and entrepreneurship, communication, and data-driven leadership. She also discusses how the public health community can make an even more meaningful impact on society, her leadership style, and opportunities for firearm injury prevention at Yale and with the community.
“I believe that the Yale School of Public Health has the chance to define public health, scholarship, education, and practice for the next century,” says Ranney. “To define who's part of public health, how we do it, how we identify and address health problems in an inclusive, equitable, and impactful way.”