Alexander D. Langmuir Lecture

The Langmuir Lecture is the preeminent public health lecture in the United States. First given in 1972, this lecture continues to be a highlight of the annual EIS Conference. The lecture is named for Alexander D. Langmuir, MD, MPH (1910–1993), a public health visionary and leader who established the Epidemiology Program at what was then called the Communicable Disease Center in 1949; he remained as CDC’s chief epidemiologist until his retirement in 1970. Notably, Dr. Langmuir founded EIS, established national disease surveillance for the United States, and led the development of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report at CDC. Learn more about Dr. Langmuir and Epidemiology at CDC.

2024 Alexander D. Langmuir Lecturer: Atul Gawande
2024 Alexander D. Langmuir Lecturer: Atul Gawande

CDC is honored to announce this year’s Langmuir Lecturer, Atul Gawande, MD, MPH. He will deliver his lecture, “Global Lessons For Advancing Life Expectancy at Home and Abroad”, at the 2024 EIS conference on Wednesday, April 24, from 1:40–3:10 pm ET.

Dr. Gawande became Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID in January 2022. He is a renowned surgeon, writer, and public health leader. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, he was a practicing general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He was founder and chair of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. He also co-founded CIC Health, a public benefit corporation supporting pandemic response operations nationally, and served as a member of the Biden transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. From 2018-2020, he was CEO of Haven, the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase healthcare venture.

In addition, Atul was a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and has written four New York Times best-selling books: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the winner of two National Magazine Awards, AcademyHealth’s Impact Award for highest research impact on healthcare, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Award for writing about science.

Langmuir Lecture Archives