Faculty Profile
James S. Koopman, MD, MPH
- Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology
James Stephen Koopman, MD, MPH
1937 - 2024
James S. Koopman, M.D., M.P.H., professor of epidemiology in the School of Public
Health, retired from active faculty status on May 31, 2015.
Professor Koopman received both his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Michigan
in 1969 and his M.P.H. degree from the University of Washington in 1976. He completed
a pediatrics residency at Harbor General Hospital in 1972. Professor Koopman spent
two years as an epidemic intelligence service officer and the acting state epidemiologist
in the state of Washington and then joined the World Health Organization's smallpox
eradication efforts in India. Professor Koopman returned to the University of Michigan
as an assistant professor in 1978, and was promoted to associate professor in 1983,
and professor in 1991.
A pioneering epidemiologist, Professor Koopman championed the use of systems methods,
logic, and mathematical modeling to make causal inferences that hold outside of the
statistical target population while taking into account how factors interact and generate
complex system phenomena. His research interests included advancing the logic for
inferring public health action effects and theoretical causal system conformations
with a focus on guiding the polio eradication endgame, clarifying the conceptual basis
for HIV transmission dynamics and control, and improving disease surveillance activities
that encompass systems models and genetic sequences. Professor Koopman was a founding
member of the University's Center for the Study of Complex Systems, actively involved
in transdisciplinary research endeavors, and frequently collaborated with colleagues
in ecology, engineering, mathematics, physiology, and statistics. He promoted the
integration of causal and transmission models into the curriculum and developed the
Department's first mathematical modeling courses. Professor Koopman received the Kenneth
Rothman Prize from the journal Epidemiology in 2006.
The Regents now salute this distinguished faculty member by naming James S. Koopman,
professor emeritus of epidemiology.