HMS Professor Paul R. Epstein Dies at 67

After a long bout with lymphoma, Paul R. Epstein, instructor in medicine and associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard Medical School, died at the age of 67 at his home in Boston on Sunday.

A pioneer in the field of global environmental research, Epstein tackled problems ranging from the causes of epidemics to the intersection of global warming and health.

“He was one of an early handful of public health-oriented physicians who started pointing out the impact of climate change on infectious and parasitic diseases,” his former colleague, Boston University Professor of Environmental Health Richard W. Clapp, wrote in an email.

In 1992, Epstein published a report linking the cholera epidemic in Peru to algal blooms caused by warming sea surface temperatures.

This past year, Epstein co-authored “Changing Planet, Changing Health,” a book that outlines possible solutions for rethinking the global economy and its impact on health.

Epstein’s work carried him to far corners of the globe. His work abroad included rebuilding Mozambique’s healthcare system and participating in the 1997 summit in Japan that resulted in the Kyoto Protocol.

“He was a charismatic and compassionate person who was completely comfortable in any setting from a poor African village to corridors of great power in Washington, D.C.,” said Professor James McCarthy, who co-taught an undergraduate junior tutorial with Epstein for 15 years.

McCarthy said that he always looked forward to Epstein’s lectures that “stretched across a long blackboard” in their classroom in each year. “I know of many Harvard College students whose career directions were profoundly altered by their experience in this course,” McCarthy said.

Throughout his career, Epstein combined practicing with writing and teaching. He served on an advisory committee comprised of scientists from top universities and centers throughout the world that advise the Scientists and Evangelicals Initiative, which educates pastors on the effects of climate change.

Epstein also worked with the National Academy of Sciences, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

“[Epstein’s] greatest asset was his deep sense of moral purpose and desire to make a positive contribution in the world,” Clapp said.