Woodrow Wilson School Names New Vice Dean

Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School Dean Cecilia Rouse announced on Thursday that Keith A. Wailoo, the Townsend Martin Professor of History and Public Affairs, has been named vice dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, effective July 1, 2013.

“I am extremely grateful for Keith’s willingness to take on this role,” said Rouse.  “Keith is widely respected by faculty, students, and staff.  His commitment to the Woodrow Wilson School is clear – and he will bring his many talents to bear in helping the School achieve its goals.”

As vice dean, Wailoo will oversee the graduate and undergraduate academic programs for the Woodrow Wilson School and will also be intricately involved in the implementation of the new undergraduate major at the Woodrow Wilson School, which begins with the Class of 2015. 

“I am truly honored and thank Dean Rouse for selecting me for this position,” said Wailoo, “and I look forward to this new endeavor. The School’s multidisciplinary approach to education makes this a particularly exciting place to be.” 

Elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2007, Wailoo has done research on an array of issues in public health, scientific and technological innovation in medical care, medical specialization, and the role of identity, gender, race and ethnicity in health and disease thought. 

Wailoo is a widely published author. He has taught on the history of drugs, children and drug policy, genetics and society, and a wide range of other social and political issues in health care. Before joining the Princeton faculty, he taught in history and in social medicine (in the Medical School) at UNC Chapel Hill, and at Rutgers University (affiliated with history and with the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research) and where he was the founding director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity. 

He earned a Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Yale University. 

In the fall of 2012, Wailoo joined Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman in co-teaching a seminar on modern genetics and public policy at the Wilson School.