Louis I. Dublin Papers

Dr. Louis Israel Dublin (1882-1969), vice president and statistician of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, was with that institution from 1909-1952. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1904 and taught for several years before joining a pioneering group of public health investigators at Metropolitian Life. He was president, or director, of various public health institutions, including the American Statistical Association, the American Public Health Association, the Population Association of America, the American Cancer Society, the National Tuberculosis Association, and the National Health Council. The role life insurance and statistics played in advancing social welfare and public health were the primary guiding interests in Dublin's professional life. His research into the areas of home nursing, health education, disease, and mortality provided great insight into how medicine and public health programs could be used to extend life expectancy. His statistical research programs at Metropolitan Life gave the insurance industry a new dimension in public health and welfare service.

An outgrowth of his combined interests in insurance and public health was the focusing of national attention on welfare problems through the use of statistical studies on population trends. His analytic studies on birth rates, vital statistics trends, suicide, accident rates, mortality rates of whites and African Americans, and the increasing population of aged Americans raised awareness of the implications these areas had on national medical care, including prevention and costs. His committee work and presidential leadership in the APHA led to the development of guidelines for modern public health administration, as well as programs for controlling tuberculosis and maternal and infant mortality. Dublin authored over 650 professional articles. The APHA awarded him the William Thompson Sedgwick Memorial Medal in 1959 and he was elected into the Insurance Hall of Fame on 1961.