Jonathan Michael Samet (born March 26, 1946 in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

) is an American pulmonary physician and epidemiologist who served as dean of the Colorado School of Public Health. He was also the chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

, as well as the

Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee The Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) is an advisory panel of the United States Food and Drug Administration organized to provide advice, information and recommendations to the FDA commissioner on matters related to the regulati ...

of the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

Education

Samet received his A.B. from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1966, his M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1970, and his M.S. in epidemiology from the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

in 1977.

Career

In 1978, Samet joined the faculty of the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

as an assistant professor, where he became an associate professor in 1982. In 1986, he became the Professor of Family, Community, and Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine, as well as the chief of the Pulmonary Division there. From 1994 until 2008, he was a professor at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene ...

, as well as the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology there. He also served as the director of Johns Hopkins' Institute for Global Tobacco Control from 1998 to 2008. In 2008, he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California as the Flora L. Thornton Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine, as well as the founding director of the USC Institute for Global Health. In 2011, he served as the chair of an

International Agency for Research on Cancer The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; ) is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and coordinate research into the causes of cancer. It also cance ...

working group regarding whether

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

use was carcinogenic. In 2017 he became dean of th
Colorado School of Public Health
serving in that capacity until 2023. He is currently a Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Environmental and Occupational Health at the Colorado School of Public Health.

Research

Samet's research focuses on the health risks of pollutants such as

air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...

radon Radon is a chemical element; it has symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive noble gas and is colorless and odorless. Of the three naturally occurring radon isotopes, only Rn has a sufficiently long half-life (3.825 days) for it to b ...

, and

passive smoking Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called passive smoke, secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by individuals other than the active Tobacco smoking, smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke diffuses into the ...

Honors and awards

Samet received the

Surgeon General's Medallion The Surgeon General's Medallion is the fourth highest award of the Public Health Service and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. The medal is awarded in the name of the United States Surgeon General for actions of excep ...

in 1990 and 2006, the 2004

Prince Mahidol Award The Prince Mahidol Award () is an annual award for outstanding achievements in medicine and public health worldwide. The award is given by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, which was founded by the Thai Royal Family in 1992. Prince Mahidol ...

for Global Health awarded by the King of Thailand, and the 2006 Public Service Award of the

American Thoracic Society The American Thoracic Society (ATS) is a nonprofit organization focused on improving care for pulmonary diseases, critical illnesses and sleep-related breathing disorders. It was established in 1905 as the American Sanatorium Association, and ...

. In 1997, he was inducted into the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

. In 2025, Samet was awarded the

Calderone Prize The Frank A. Calderone Prize in Public Health is an award in the field of public health. It is given every two years by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health to an individual who has made a "transformational contribution" in the ...

, the most prestigious award in the field of public health.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samet, Jonathan Michael 1946 births Living people People from Newport News, Virginia University of Southern California faculty American pulmonologists American epidemiologists Members of the National Academy of Medicine University of Rochester alumni Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni Tobacco researchers