Evelynn Hammonds

Evelynn Hammonds is the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and Professor of African and African American Studies in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In the field of History, she earned a B.S. in physics from Spelman College, a B.E.E. in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, an S.M. in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard University. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, she joined the Harvard faculty. Hammonds held pioneering administrative positions, including the first Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity (2005-2008), Dean of Harvard College (2008-2013), and Chair of the Department of History of Science (2017-2022). She served on the President’s Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, chaired the University-wide Steering Committee on Human Remains in the Harvard Museum Collections, and sits on the Faculty Executive Committee of the Peabody Museum. Currently, she is interim director of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History (2024-2025), president of the History of Science Society (2024-2026), and director of the Project on Race & Gender in Science & Medicine at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard. She has also served as Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (2003-2005), vice president/president-elect of the History of Science Society, and on boards including those of Spelman College, Bennett College, Bates College, and the Arcus Foundation.

Professor Hammonds' research specializations encompass the histories of science, medicine, and public health in the United States; race, gender, and sexuality in science studies; feminist theory; and African American history. Her work addresses the history of disease, race and science, African American feminism, African-American women and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, gender and race analyses in science, medicine, public health, and health disparities. Current projects focus on the intersection of scientific, medical, and socio-political concepts of race. Major publications include Childhood’s Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999); The Nature of Difference: Sciences of Race in the United States from Jefferson to Genomics, co-edited with Rebecca Herzig (MIT Press, 2008); The Harvard Sampler: Liberal Education for the Twenty-First Century, co-edited with Jennifer M. Shephard and Stephen M. Kosslyn (Harvard University Press, 2011); and co-authorship of the National Academy of Sciences report Transforming Technologies: Women of Color in Tech (2021). She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, holds honorary degrees from Spelman College and Bates College, and was named a Fellow of the Association of Women in Science in 2008. Hammonds contributes to committees such as the NAS Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and works on initiatives to increase participation of people of color in STEM fields.

Professional Email: Evelynn_Hammonds@harvard.edu