Alexander Duncan Langmuir (12 September 1910 – 22 November 1993) was an American

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

. He is renowned for creating the

Epidemic Intelligence Service The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The modern EIS is a two-year, hands-on post-doctoral training program in epidemiology, with a focus on field work. History Creation ...

Biography

Alexander D. Langmuir was born in Santa Monica, California. He received his A.B. in 1931 from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, his M.D. in 1935 from

Cornell University Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with New ...

, and his M.P.H. in 1940 from the

Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...

. After serving as a public health officer in New York and as an epidemiologist with the

U. S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from 1942 to 1946, Langmuir returned to Johns Hopkins to become associate professor of epidemiology in the school of medicine. In 1949, he became director of the epidemiology branch of the National Communicable Disease Center (now the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

) in Atlanta, a position he held for over 20 years. He wrote extensively on all phases of epidemiology on a global basis and was recognized internationally as a leading contributor in epidemiology. Langmuir was a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health from 1988 until his death in 1993.

References

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External links

The Alexander D. Langmuir Collection
Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
The Alexander D. Langmuir papers
can be found at The Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library, Harvard Medical School. {{DEFAULTSORT:Langmuir, Alexander D 1910 births 1993 deaths American atheists American public health doctors Harvard University alumni Weill Cornell Medical College alumni Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni 20th-century American biologists Members of the American Epidemiological Society Physician-scientists 20th-century American physicians Physicians from California People from Santa Monica, California