Siobán D. Harlow, PhD

Siobán D. Harlow, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology and professor of global public health in the School of Public Health and professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Medical School, retired from active faculty status on December 31, 2021.

Professor Harlow earned her B.A. (1980) degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. (1988) degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. She joined the University of Michigan faculty as an assistant professor in 1992, and was promoted to associate professor in 1998, and professor in 2004. She was appointed professor of obstetrics and gynecology in 2015 and professor of global public health in 2017. She is director of the Center for Midlife Science (2011-present) and was associate director of the International Institute (2000- 05), chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights (2003- 05, 2008-12), member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, Division of Reproductive Health Research, World Health Organization (2004-09), and a Fulbright Scholar (2017-18).

A pre-eminent scholar of women’s health, Professor Harlow’s groundbreaking research on the epidemiology of menstruation stimulated a more comprehensive understanding of menstrual cycling patterns and gynecological morbidity across the reproductive life course. Founding editor of Women’s Midlife Health, she led the multiracial/ethnic Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) in Michigan, spearheading development of the first empirically-based staging system for reproductive aging and refocusing scientific attention on the critical importance of midlife to successful aging. With over 250 publications, her research also encompasses development of statistical methodologies to facilitate quantitative analysis of variation in physiologic processes. Internationally, she advocated for recognition of the critical role women workers play in economic development, researching the impact of global trade and export production on women’s and children’s health as well as the health impacts of gender-based violence. Having chaired 28 dissertations, Professor Harlow is a respected teacher and mentor and exemplary role model for diverse scholars having been awarded the Excellence in Research Award (2018), the Eugene Feingold Excellence in Diversity Award (2015), the Sarah Goddard Power Award (2016), the Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award (2013), the Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award (2013), and the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award (2006).

The Regents now salute this distinguished faculty member by naming Siobán D. Harlow, professor emerita of epidemiology and professor emerita of global public health.