Prabhat Jha named University Professor

Dr. Prabhat Jha, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in global tobacco control, has been named a University Professor.

Jha is the lead investigator of the Million Death Study in India, which quantifies the causes of premature mortality in more than 23 million people from 1997-2023, including risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol. He is the author of several influential publications on tobacco control, including two that helped enable a global treaty on tobacco control, now signed by over 180 countries.

He is the University of Toronto Endowed Professor in Global Health and Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health – and “one of the most influential epidemiologists in the world,” said Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regher.

A Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Health, Jha is also the founding executive director of the Centre for Global Health Research at Unity Health Toronto. 

“Today, as we are all facing an enormous global challenge with the coronavirus, it does remind us of how we want to think about our role in the world, and universities are essential to that response,” Jha said. “We have an extraordinary challenge in global health ahead as we’ve all seen. 

“I’m confident that the university will play an important role in the global response.”