Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health has a new dean and she plans to take advantage of her new city.
“I like to jog and walk. I love jazz, theater, and dance and there is no better city in the world to do all of that,” said Linda Fried, an expert on aging who will take the reigns uptown in May after a storied career as a professor and geriatrician at Johns Hopkins University. Fried will succeed Allan Rosenfield, who has served as the school’s dean for 22 years.
As much as she’s looking forward to her leisure time in New York, Fried also expressed excitement about her new role at Mailman.
“I am very excited to be coming back to New York and particularly in this role within a school that I am very passionate about,” Fried said. “It feels like an optimal combination for me.”
Described as a natural leader by the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Fried earned a reputation as an innovative visionary through research projects focused on frailty and the science behind healthy aging.
“She’s an excellent researcher and has a sense of future direction in her field that she executes very well, allowing us to make scientific progress,” said Qian-Li Xue, assistant professor and director of biostatistics at the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins and member of Fried’s research group.
Xue also praised Fried’s teaching skills. “She is a great mentor—one of her best qualities as a leader. She did all she could do to really train new staff members and really be an inspirational leader by setting a great example,” Xue said.
Fried said she finds herself drawn to the atmosphere of the Columbia community. “The faculty and students are just superb—I can’t think of working with a better group of people,” she said. “They are smart, idealistic, and really motivated to make a difference, and that is very attractive.”
There is also an element of homecoming to the post—Fried attended New York’s Hunter College High School. She went on to receive her MD degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago and her MPH degree from Johns Hopkins, completing one residency in internal medicine at Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and another in general internal medicine, cardiovascular epidemiology, and geriatrics at Johns Hopkins. She has received numerous awards, including being named the 2000 Distinguished Woman Physician/Scientist by a national board of doctors and Congress’s 2004 Living Legend in Medicine.
While Fried will not take office until May, she has already expressed much enthusiasm about her vision for the school, stressing the importance of faculty-student interaction and building upon the public health programs currently in place at the school.
“What I would like to be able to do is to work with students in the coming years to really create a joint vision for what the future needs and directions for public health should be,” she said. “My hope is to work in that strategic planning process to really try to extend and strengthen the wonderful service delivery program that the school has.”
Her new co-workers said they look forward to joining her. “Dr. Fried is not a stranger to the spotlight, and I have no doubt that she will continue to help the school expand at the national and international level,” said Rebecca Levine, vice president of the Mailman School of Public Health Student Governing Association. “I hope that she will be able to share her research experience with students and faculty.”
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