Edward F. Lawlor served as dean of the Brown School from 2004 to 2016, and Special Assistant to the Provost from 2016 to 2019. During his term, the School created public health and social policy programs, constructed Hillman Hall, and doubled its faculty and research capacity. His teaching and research focused on public policy and aging, health policy, and social services.

Lawlor’s book Redesigning the Medicare Contract: Politics, Markets, and Agency treats Medicare reform as an exercise in writing a good social contract. He is currently writing a book on distressed middle-country cities as well as a blog on social policy.

Lawlor is the founding editor of the Public Policy and Aging Report and a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is a former director and faculty scholar in the Institute for Public Health.

Prior to joining the Brown School, Lawlor served as dean and professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and professor at the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. He directed the Center for Health Administration Studies and the University’s Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy.