Arthur Kleinman

Arthur Kleinman, born March 11, 1941, has revolutionized the fields of medical anthropology, cultural psychiatry, and global mental health over a five-decade career at Harvard University. After earning his MD from Stanford Medical School and MA in social anthropology from Harvard, he has built an extraordinary career combining psychiatry with anthropological insights. As the Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology and Professor of Medical Anthropology and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, he has authored seven influential books including "The Illness Narratives," "Rethinking Psychiatry," and most recently "The Soul of Care," while co-authoring four others and co-editing 29 volumes. His groundbreaking research in China since 1978 has transformed understanding of mental health across cultures, while his concept of "social suffering" has influenced fields from global health to humanitarian response. Through founding the journal Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry and directing Harvard's Asia Center (2008-2016), he has shaped multiple disciplines while mentoring over 100 PhD students. His numerous honors include membership in the National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Franz Boas Award from the American Anthropological Association, and his work continues to influence global mental health policy and practice through research on aging, caregiving, and social technology in China.