Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1960 and raised in Oak Park and Southfield, Michigan, Dr. Markel was educated at the University of Michigan (A.B. in English Literature, summa cum laude, 1982; M.D., cum laude, 1986) and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Internship, Residency, and Fellowship in General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 1986-1991; Ph.D., History of Science, Medicine and Technology, 1994). He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1993.

A prolific writer, Dr. Markel is the author or co-author of seven books including The H.L. Mencken Baby Book (Hanley and Belfus, 1990) the popular textbook The Portable Pediatrician (Hanley and Belfus/C.V. Mosby-Yearbook, 1992, first edition, and 2000, second edition) and The Practical Pediatrician: The A to Z Guide to Your Child’s Health, Behavior and Safety (W.H. Freeman/Scientific American Books, 1996). In 1996, The Practical Pediatrician was named “Best Book of the Year” by Child Magazine. He is also the co-editor of two books, Human Diseases and Conditions (Scribner’s, 2000) and Formative Years: Children’s Health in America, 1880-2000 (University of Michigan Press, 2002).

His critically acclaimed study of immigration and public health in the United States during the 19th century, Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in June, 1997 and released as a trade paperback by Hopkins in 1999. Quarantine! won the 2003 Arthur Viseltear Prize for Best Book from the American Public Health Association. Dr. Markel’s latest book, an exploration of epidemics, public health and immigration during the 20th century, When Germs Travel: Six Epidemics That Invaded America since 1900 and the Fears They Unleashed was published by Pantheon Books in May of 2004 and will be released in paperback by Vintage Books/Random House in May of 2005.

An internationally known scholar in pediatrics and the history of medicine, Dr. Markel has written over 100 peer reviewed papers, reviews or chapter in academic journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet, in addition to The Encyclopedia of New York City, The Oxford Companion to United States History, The American National Biography, and The Encyclopedia of Microbiology. He also served as the guest co-editor of the February 16, 2000 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Markel is also a frequent contributing writer for The New York Times, and has written about medicine and health care for that newspaper’s Science Times section as well as the Op-Ed Page, the Week in Review, and the Book Review sections. His articles or essays have also appeared in Harper’s, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, The American Scholar, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Evening Sun, The Forward, Redbook, ELLE, Child, and Good Housekeeping and on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” and “Marketplace.” He also appears frequently as an expert on national radio and television broadcasts including CNN, ABC, MSNBC, and the PBS News Hour with Jim Leherer.

Professor Markel sits, or has sat, on editorial boards of several scholarly and lay publications and has lectured widely at public institutions, museums, and universities throughout the United States and Great Britain. He is also the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and honors including the Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Faculty Scholars Award, the James Shannon Director’s Award of the National Institutes of Health, the National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award, and the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund 40th Anniversary History of Medicine Award. In 1999, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani named Professor Markel a Centennial Historian of the City of New York for his scholarly study of New York City and the history of public health and immigration. During the academic year of 1999-2000, Dr. Markel was an Inaugural Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library.

1. Markel, H.: Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892. Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997 (paperback edition, Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999).

2. Stern, A.M., Markel, H. (eds.): Formative Years: Children’s Health in the United States, 1880-2000. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002; paperback edition, 2004).

3. Markel, H.: When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They Have Unleashed. New York, Pantheon Books/Alfred A. Knopf Books, 2004. (Simultaneously published in Canada: Toronto: Random House of Canada, Ltd., 2004; paperback edition published by Vintage Books/Random House, New York, 2005.)

Selected Papers: 1. Markel, H., Stern, A.M.: The Foreignness of Germs: The Persistent Association of Immigrants and Disease in American Society. Milbank Quarterly 2002; 80: 757-788.

2. Stern, A.M.,Markel, H.: The USPHS and Film Noir: A Look Back at Elia Kazan’s Panic in the Streets (1950). Public Health Reports 2003; 118: 178-183.

3. Markel, H., Golden, J.: Children’s Public Health Policy in the United States: How the Past Can Inform the Future. Health Affairs 2004; 23(5): 1-6.

4. Stern, A.M., Markel, H.: International Efforts to Control Infectious Diseases, 1851 to the Present. Journal of the American Medical Association 2004; 32(4): 92-96.

5. Markel, H.: “Who’s on First?” – Medical Discoveries and Scientific Priority. New England Journal of Medicine 2004; 351(27): 2792-2794.

6. Markel, H.: “I Swear By Apollo” – On Taking the Hippocratic Oath. New England Journal of Medicine 350; 20:2026-2029 (May 13, 2004).

7. Markel, H.: The Accidental Addict. New England Journal of Medicine 352; 10: 966-968 (March 10, 2005).

8. Markel, H.: April 12, 1955: Tommy Francis and the Salk Vaccine. New England Journal of Medicine 352; 14 (April 7, 2005): 1408-1410.

9. Markel, H., Golden, J.: Successes and Missed Opportunities in Protecting Our Children’s Health: Critical Junctures in the History of Children’s Health Policy in the United States. Pediatrics (Supp.) 115; 4 (April 2005): 1129-1135.

10. Stern, A.M., Markel, H.: The History of Vaccines and Immunization: Familiar Patterns, New Challenges. Health Affairs 24 (May/June 2005): 1-11.