Lancet Pays Tribute to International Health Founder, Dr. Timothy D. Baker
The most recent issue of the Lancet features a tribute to International Health co-founder, professor Timothy Baker, who passed away on December 17, 2013.
In 1942, Dr. Baker entered Johns Hopkins University to study chemical engineering, but a stint at the US Air Force Base hospital during World War II changed his mind, and once the war was over, completed his biology degree at Hopkins. He then went on to earn his medical degree at the University of Maryland in 1952, then a master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public health two years later.
From there, Dr. Baker pursued advanced medical training at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London and at what is now the University of Maryland Medical Center, completed his residency at the New York Department of Public Health, worked as a district health officer in New York's Syracuse district, fought malaria in India and Ceylon, was an assistant chief of the Health Division for the U.S. Technical Cooperation Mission (which became the U.S. Agency for International Development) and played a key role in persuading Indian government officials to increase spending on the malaria eradication campaign.
In 1959, Baker was appointed assistant dean of what is now the Bloomberg School of Public Health and associate professor of public health administration. In 1961, he co-founded the Department of International Health with Dean Ernest L. Stebbins and continued to build the first-of-its kind academic department with chair Carl E. Taylor and professor William Reinke.
A pioneer in disease and injury burden, Dr. Baker was among the first to recognize the importance of injury as a cause of disability, especially in low income countries. Dr. Baker was the founding director of the JHSPH Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, which trained senior foreign health professionals and in 1993, he was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the American Public Health Association.
His career spanned 50 years and included work in more than 40 countries. Said JH-IIRU director, Adnan Hyder, [Dr. Baker’s death is] “an incredible loss for our program, the department, and the school to start; but really the entire global health community.”
Access the full tribute here.
Read the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health tribute here.
Access Dr. Baker’s obituary in the Baltimore Sun here.
Keywords: international health, johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health, timothy d. baker