Robert A. Hiatt, MD, PhD, professor emeritus of epidemiology and biostatics at UCSF, has received the Abraham Lilienfeld Award from the American College of Epidemiology for his lifetime of contributions to the field of epidemiology.
The Abraham Lilienfeld Award is the organization’s most prestigious award. It is given in honor of Abraham Lilienfeld, a founder of the American College of Epidemiology and a renowned teacher and scholar. Award recipients are senior leaders who have made extraordinary contributions to the field of epidemiology through both teaching or mentoring and research or scholarship.
Past recipients include Sir Richard Doll, whose pioneering research linked smoking to lung cancer, and William H. Foege, a former director at the Centers for Disease Control in the 1970s who helped eradicate smallpox.
“I’m extremely honored to be a part of this distinguished group of epidemiologists,” Hiatt said. “I’m happy to be recognized at this stage in my career and for the contributions I've made to the field.”
Melissa Bondy, MS, PhD, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Stanford University School of Medicine, was one of several colleagues who nominated Hiatt.
"I have had the privilege of knowing Dr. Hiatt for over 30 years,” said Bondy. “His extensive academic training and professional experiences have equipped him with a profound understanding of clinical and population health perspectives. And his advocacy for health equity and his work addressing health disparities exemplify the spirit of the Abraham Lilienfeld Award."
Education and Early Career
Hiatt began his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, planning to follow his father's footsteps into engineering. He soon discovered he was better at biology than physics and calculus.
He entered medical school at the University of Michigan in the 1960s, a turbulent era of social protests and sit-ins. He became interested in the social aspects of medicine and how it could help him understand health and disease in addition to individual patient care.
After an externship in the former Yugoslavia, Hiatt was accepted to a surgical internship at San Francisco General Hospital, where he helped take care of some of the city's poorest residents. That intense period of training in trauma surgery with rotations in neurosurgery enhanced his understanding of what was possible in medicine. It also showed him first-hand how social determinants were linked to adverse health outcomes.
Hiatt ultimately decided that surgery wasn't for him and chose a preventive medicine residency in the US Public Health Service at the Presidio Marine Hospital with internal medicine training at UCSF. He met June, his wife-to-be, and they moved to Potrero Hill and then the Berkeley Hills, where he spent an inspirational year at UC Berkeley, completing an MPH in epidemiology.
“I finally discovered a field that felt exciting, intellectually stimulating, and provided the answer to my vague ideas about the kind of career I wanted,” Hiatt said.
One summer, Hiatt and his wife were invited to a mountain village in Oaxaca by John Francis Catchpool, MD, an “intrepid scientist and man of the world,” according to Hiatt. Catchpool was in Oaxaca, studying the effects of encroaching social development on the traditional culture of the Trique Indians. This experience instilled in Hiatt the sense of adventure that could accompany life in epidemiology and international health.
He continued his adventure in highland Ethiopia and rural Puerto Rico, studying the epidemiology of schistosomiasis during four years of fieldwork. June accompanied him to these countries and their son, Jesse, was born in San Francisco during a short stay between the two assignments.
Fully invested in the field, Hiatt began doctoral training in epidemiology in 1976 at UC Berkeley with Warren Winkelstein, MD, MPH. His dissertation focused on the epidemiology of kidney stones in geographically diverse environments in the United States and was conducted at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research (DOR). He finished his PhD in 1980 and joined the DOR, where he would be for the next 20 years as an investigator. At Kaiser Permanente, Hiatt built his career in cancer epidemiology, and ultimately became the assistant director of epidemiology.
Contributions to Cancer Epidemiology and UCSF
While at the Division of Research in 1988, Hiatt took on a part-time role as Director of Cancer Detection, Prevention, and Education at the Northern California Cancer Center. Both roles allowed him to apply epidemiology to community studies and behavioral science.
With Rena Pasick, DrPH, MPH, MA, then at UC Berkeley, he began a sizeable NCI-funded breast and cervical intervention study in San Francisco and Contra Costa counties, where they hired and trained community outreach workers from local neighborhoods.
In 1998, he was recruited to join the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda by Barbara Rimer, DrPH, MPH, who had just been named the first director of the new Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. As the first deputy director of this new Division, Hiatt helped to direct major national programs in cancer genetics, tobacco cessation, energy balance, cancer surveillance, cancer disparities and diffusion, and dissemination research.
In 2003, he was recruited back to San Francisco as Associate Director for Population Science at the UCSF Cancer Center, where he reunited with Pasick to build a cancer control research program. In 2006, he was chosen as co-chair of the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics with Neil Risch, PhD, MS. He guided the department in its recruitment and growth, including creating a new PhD program in epidemiology and translational science. He was instrumental in recruiting many new faculty, including Maria Glymour, ScD, MS, and Scarlett Gomez, MPH, PhD. Meanwhile, at the newly named UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Hiatt built a program in population health and behavioral and social science research.
Hiatt has also volunteered his time with the epidemiology professional community throughout his busy research career. In 1998, he was elected president of the American College of Epidemiology. In 2003, he became president of the American Society of Preventive Oncology.
Retirement and Current Projects
Hiatt is now semi-retired from UCSF but is still active in many research projects as professor emeritus. He leads the UCSF San Francisco Cancer Initiative, a community coalition to reduce the population burden of cancer, and the All of Us Research Program, which is recruiting one million people to study advances in precision medicine research. He’s also the co-PI at the Upstream Research Center, which studies the effects of income supplementation on cancer behavior and outcomes in areas of persistent poverty in Northern California.
Looking back over his career, Hiatt reflected on the fun he’s had while pursuing epidemiology. “I have continually found new and exciting questions to explore,” Hiatt said, “and while retirement will undoubtedly present the challenge of having to turn down some of the enticing project ideas that appear in the future, there is still plenty to keep me busy.”
Hiatt will address fellows and members of the American College of Epidemiology during its annual meeting from September 8 through 11 when he officially receives his award.