Victor W. Sidel, MD

Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine,
Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
Adjunct Professor of Public Health, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York
Phone: 718-920-6586 Fax: 718-654-7305 E-mail: vsidel@igc.org

Victor Sidel is a graduate of Princeton University with honors in physics and of Harvard Medical School with honors in biophysics. After training in internal medicine and in biophysics at Harvard Medical School and at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, he headed the Community Medicine Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and studied epidemiology and biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He moved to the Bronx in 1969 to chair the Department of Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was appointed Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine in 1984. He is also Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Sidel served as president of the American Public Health Association in 1985 and of the Public Health Association of New York City in 1980-81 and in 2000-1. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Physicians for a National Health Program. Since 1974 Dr. Sidel has been chair of the Institutional Review Board for Protection of Human Subjects at Montefiore and has lectured and published on topics in medical ethics.

Dr. Sidel is also deeply involved in international health work and in 1971 was a member of the first U.S. medical delegation invited to the People's Republic of China in 20 years; he has studied health care in a dozen other countries, and has been a consultant for the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Dr. Sidel was one of the founders of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in 1961 and was its president in 1987-88. In 1980 he was one of the founders of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Peace, and was its co-president from 1993 to 1998. He has spoken and published widely on the economic, social, environmental and health consequences of the arms race, on the risks posed by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and on the diversion of resources and the curtailment of human rights entailed in responses to the threat of bioterrorism. Dr. Sidel is co-editor with Dr. Barry Levy of War and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 1997; updated paperbound edition, American Public Health Association, 2000) and of Terrorism and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Dr. Sidel was the honorary Cleveringa Professor of Medicine and Human Rights at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1998-1999. Among his other honors are the Sedgwick Medal of the American Public Health Association for "outstanding accomplishments in public health" and the APHA Award for Excellence for "exceptionally meritorious contributions to the improvement of the health of the people." The citation for the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters awarded to Dr. Sidel by the State University of New York began, "In your extraordinary career as an international leader in public health, you have always placed your pivotal focus on the betterment of the human condition..."

Victor Sidel is a graduate of Princeton University with honors in physics and of Harvard Medical School with honors in biophysics. After training in internal medicine and in biophysics at Harvard Medical School and at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, he headed the Community Medicine Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and studied epidemiology and biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He moved to the Bronx in 1969 to chair the Department of Social Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was appointed Distinguished University Professor of Social Medicine in 1984. He is also Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Sidel served as president of the American Public Health Association in 1985 and of the Public Health Association of New York City in 1980-81 and in 2000-1. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of Physicians for a National Health Program. Since 1974 Dr. Sidel has been chair of the Institutional Review Board for Protection of Human Subjects at Montefiore and has lectured and published on topics in medical ethics.

Dr. Sidel is also deeply involved in international health work and in 1971 was a member of the first U.S. medical delegation invited to the People's Republic of China in 20 years; he has studied health care in a dozen other countries, and has been a consultant for the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Dr. Sidel was one of the founders of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in 1961 and was its president in 1987-88. In 1980 he was one of the founders of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Peace, and was its co-president from 1993 to 1998. He has spoken and published widely on the economic, social, environmental and health consequences of the arms race, on the risks posed by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and on the diversion of resources and the curtailment of human rights entailed in responses to the threat of bioterrorism. Dr. Sidel is co-editor with Dr. Barry Levy of War and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 1997; updated paperbound edition, American Public Health Association, 2000) and of Terrorism and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Dr. Sidel was the honorary Cleveringa Professor of Medicine and Human Rights at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1998-1999. Among his other honors are the Sedgwick Medal of the American Public Health Association for "outstanding accomplishments in public health" and the APHA Award for Excellence for "exceptionally meritorious contributions to the improvement of the health of the people." The citation for the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters awarded to Dr. Sidel by the State University of New York began, "In your extraordinary career as an international leader in public health, you have always placed your pivotal focus on the betterment of the human condition..."