Harvey V. Fineberg
M.D., M.P.P., Ph.D. · Harvard University · Professor of Health Policy and Management, Emeritus, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Harvey V. Fineberg is President of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a position he has held since 2014. A physician and health policy researcher, he is one of the most consequential figures in American public health over the past four decades.
From 2002 to 2014, Fineberg served as President of the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, where he led the organisation's work on health policy, medical quality, and global health. Before that, he served as Provost of Harvard University from 1997 to 2001, and as Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health from 1984 to 1997 — thirteen years during which the school expanded its research scope and international reach substantially.
His research addresses decision making in medical care, public health practice, and health policy. He has studied vaccine safety, the cost-effectiveness of cardiac care interventions, tuberculosis prevention policy, and the ethical dimensions of emerging medical technologies, particularly in genetics. His analysis of the 1976 US swine flu immunization program, published as The Swine Flu Affair, remains a reference study in public health decision making under uncertainty.
Fineberg co-founded the Society for Medical Decision Making and served as a consultant to the World Health Organization. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Selected Publications
The Swine Flu Affair: Decision-Making on a Slippery Disease (with Richard Neustadt). US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1978.
Clinical Decision Analysis (with Milton Weinstein). W.B. Saunders, 1980.
Innovators in Physician Education. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 1992.
Recent scholarly contributions include work on revitalising American science, international scientific collaboration, diagnostic excellence, and trust frameworks in learning health systems (2025–2026).
Role at the Health Action Lab
Fineberg advises the Health Action Lab on health policy development, the design of evidence-generating engagements, and the translation of pilot findings into policy-relevant outputs. His experience leading the National Academy of Medicine and the Moore Foundation informs HAL's approach to cross-geography evidence production and philanthropic de-risking.