Centers

Bruce G. Link is Research Scientist at New York State Psychiatric Institute and a professor of Epidemiology and Sociomedical Sciences (in Psychiatry) at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. Dr. Link received his PhD in Sociology from Columbia University in 1980 where he received training in psychiatric epidemiology. Upon completing his PhD Dr. Link took a Masters Degree in Biostatistics also from Columbia University. He joined the faculty of the School of Public Health in 1981 and became a Research Scientist at New York State Psychiatric Institute in 1989. He received the Leonard Pearlin Award for career achievement from the Mental Health Section of the American Sociological Association in 2002. In 2007 he received the Leo G. Reeder Award from the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association and the Rema Lapouse Award from the Mental Health Section of the American Public Health Association. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2002. Dr. Link’s interests are centered on topics in psychiatric and social epidemiology. He has written on the connection between socioeconomic status and health, homelessness, violence, stigma and discrimination. Currently he is conducting research aimed at understanding: 1) health disparities by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, 2) the consequences of social stigma for people with mental illnesses, 3) the connection between mental illnesses and violent behaviors, and 4) the effects of outpatient commitment on people with serious mental illnesses. He is the Director of the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program, the Director of the Center for Violence Research and Prevention, Director (with Jo Phelan) of the Center for Social Inequalities and Health, and a Director (with Peter Bearman) of the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program at Columbia University.