Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series

Samuel K. Roberts, PhD

Dr. Roberts is associate professor of history and African American studies at Columbia University’s School of Arts & Sciences and associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. He also leads the Center for Science and Society’s Research Cluster for Historical Study of Race, Inequality, and Health. He is a former director of Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS). He writes, teaches, and lectures widely on African American history, medical and public health history, urban history, and the history of social movements. His widely acclaimed first book, “Infectious Fear: Politics, Disease, and the Health Effects of Segregation,” describes the historical roots of contemporary health inequities and shows how the political economy of health, urban geography, and racialization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had resounding impact on the fates of Black migrants and their communities for decades thereafter.

Dr. Roberts has served on the boards of several organizations, including the Legal Action Center, the Alliance of Families for Justice, and OnPoint, the nation’s first sanctioned overdose prevention center. He is a co-founder of the National Black Harm Reduction Network. In 2013-14, Dr. Roberts served as the policy director of Columbia University’s Justice Initiative, where he helped to coordinate the efforts of several partners to bring attention to the issue of aging and the growing incarcerated elderly population. This work led to the publication of “Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety” in 2015. With Dr. Michael Yudell, Dr. Roberts is the faculty editor of the book series on Race, Inequality, and Health (RIH) for Columbia University Press.

He is writing a book tentatively titled “To Enter a Society Which Doesn’t Want Them: Race, Recovery, and America’s Misadventures in Drug Policy.”

2021–22  Carol Backer

2020–21  Farah Jasmine Griffin

2018–19  Randi Hutter Epstein

2017–18  Kellie Jones

2016–17  Rita Charon

2015–16  Amale Andraos

2014–15  Brian Greene

2013–14  Pamela H. Smith

2012–13  Mark C. Taylor

2011–12  Sylvia Nasar

2007–08  David Freedberg

2005–06  Andrew Delbanco

2003–04  Jonathan Cole

2002–03  Jeffrey Sachs

2001–02  Eric Foner

2000–01  Edward W. Said

1999–2000  Robert E. Pollack

1998–99  Kenneth Jackson

1997–98  Jack Greenberg

1996–97  George Rupp

1995–96  David N. Cannadine

1994–95  Simon A. Schama

1993–94  James H. Beck

1992–93  Osborn Elliott

1991–92  Henry F. Graf

1990–91  Fred Friendly

1989–90  Howard Shanet

1988–89  Zbigniew Brzezinski

1987–88  Louis Henkin

1986–87  Barbara Aronstein Black

1985–86  Robert Merton

1984–85  Edith Porada

1983–84  David Rothman

1982–83  Harriet Zuckerman

1981–82  Fritz Stern

About the Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series