Dr. David R. Williams is at the University of Michigan where he serves as the Harold W. Cruse Collegiate Professor of Sociology, a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Social Research, a Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, and a Faculty Associate in the Center for AfroAmerican and African Studies and the Program for Research on Black Americans. His previous academic appointment was at Yale University. He holds a master's degree in public health from Loma Linda University and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan.

His research has focused on social influences on health and h e is centrally interested in the trends and determinants of socioeconomic and racial differences in mental and physical health. His research has made important contributions to enhancing our understanding of the complex ways in which race, racism, and socioeconomic status combine to affect the patterning of health over the life course. In particular, his conceptual and empirical work has identified specific mechanisms by which racism, at both the societal and individual level, can affect health. He is also interested in the ways in which religious involvement can affect health. He is the author of more than 100 scholarly papers in scientific journals and edited collections and his research has appeared in leading journals in sociology, psychology, medicine, public health and epidemiology. He has served as a member of the editorial board of 6 scientific journals and as a reviewer for some 45 others. In 1995, he received an Investigator Award in Health Policy Research from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in 2001, he was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Williams has served on the Department of Health and Human Services' National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (and chaired its subcommittee on Minority and Other Special Populations), and the National Science Foundation's Board of Overseers for the General Social Survey. He has been a member of five panels for the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine. He has also held elected and appointed positions in professional organizations, such as the American Sociological Association and the American Public Health Association. Currently, he is a member of the board of directors for Academy Health and is a member of the MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health.