Michael J. Klag

Klag, a dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.S. from Juniata College in 1974 and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1978. Klag completed an internship, residency, and chief residency in internal medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse from 1978 to 1982. From 1982 to 1984, he was an attending physician at Crouse-Irving Memorial Hospital at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, a general internist at Syracuse Community Health Center, an assistant clinical professor at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, and held a commission in the United States Public Health Service. In 1984, he began a fellowship in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine which he completed in 1987. Klag also completed his M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health that same year.

Klag joined the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1987 as an instructor, and was appointed as active staff at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. His appointments in public health were in the departments of epidemiology and health policy and management, and his appointment in the school of medicine was in the department of medicine. One year later, he was promoted to assistant professor in all three departments and named director of the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study in the school of medicine, a position he held until 2011. In 1992, he was again promoted, this time to associate professor, and two years later was named acting director of the division of internal medicine. Klag was named director of the division and also interim director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research in 1996 and served for one year.

In 1998, he was promoted to full professor in the school of medicine and was appointed interim director of the department of medicine and interim physician-in-chief at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2000 to 2001. Klag served as Vice Dean for Clinical Investigation in the school of medicine from 2001 to 2005, and was named the David M. Levine Professor of Medicine in 2005. That same year, he was appointed professor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, and promoted to professor and named dean in the school of public health. He retired from that position in 2017.

During his tenure as dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the full-time faculty, revenue, and enrollment increased, and endowed professorships quadrupled. Student scholarship funding doubled and philanthropic gifts totaled more than $1.3 billion. Klag championed the accessibility of public health education by expanding existing online educational platforms to develop online open courses; in four years, enrollment surpassed 5.2 million. After stepping down from the deanship, Klag continued as a professor in the departments of epidemiology and health policy and management, and in the department of medicine in the school of medicine.

Klag has published over 191 articles, twelve book chapters and two books, including the Johns Hopkins Family Health Book, and The Emerging Global Health Crisis: Noncommunicable Diseases in Low-and Middle-Income Countries. His research and writings have focused on the epidemiology and prevention of heart and kidney disease. He served as a member of the editorial boards of Advances in Renal Replacement Therapy, American Journal of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Family Health Guide, Clinical Nutrition, and the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Klag has been active in many professional associations including the American Society of Nephrology, the American College of Physicians and the Council on Epidemiology, American Heart Association. He has served as chair for the Association of Schools of Public Health. His awards include the James D. Bruce Memorial Award for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine from the American College of Physicians, and the David M. Levine Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.