Understanding and Effectively Addressing Inequities in Health: Dr. David R. Williams | Hakim Lecture

Dr. David R. Williams is the Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health and Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also a Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. An internationally recognized social scientist, Dr. Williams research has enhanced our understanding of the ways in which socioeconomic status, race, stress, racism, health behavior and religious involvement can affect physical and mental health. Dr. Williams is the author of more than 500 scientific papers and the Everyday Discrimination Scale that he developed is the most widely used measure of discrimination in health studies.


Dr. Williams is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He has played a visible, national leadership role in raising awareness levels of social inequities in health. Dr. Williams served as the staff director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America and as a key scientific advisor to the award-winning PBS film series, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? His research has been featured in national print and television media and in his TED Talk.


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This annual lecture series was established by Dr. Raymond Hakim in honor of his late wife, Catherine McLaughlin Hakim ’70. A sociology major at Emmanuel, Catherine studied under longtime sociology professor Sister Marie Augusta Neal, SND, who left an especially indelible mark on her student experience. The lecture series commemorates Catherine’s life, her fondness for Emmanuel, and the relationships she formed at the College and continued to maintain throughout her life.