Melody Goodman began her journey in public health and biostatistics at a 2001 undergrad summer program in hopes of improving communities more than she could in investment banking. Now, after more than eight years at the university, Goodman stepped up as the dean of the NYU School of Global Public Health last month.
A Queens native, Goodman joined NYU as an associate professor in biostatistics in 2017. In March 2024, she became the interim dean of GPH following Debra Furr-Holden, who had served in the role for two years.
After a month as dean, Goodman spoke with WSN about her journey in public health and her goals for the school.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
WSN: How did you discover biostatistics?
Goodman: I went to grad school not fully knowing what biostatistics was. I landed in the Harvard School of Public Health, which is an amazing place to land if you don’t really know about public health. When I started at NYU, I was an associate professor of biostatistics. After I was dean for research, I became senior executive vice dean of the school and then I became interim dean.
WSN: How has your time and experience at NYU affected how you’re choosing to lead now as dean of the school?
Goodman: I think having been here not in a leadership role makes me think about things differently now that I am in a leadership role, because I have the perspective of not wanting to be bossed around and wanting to be a part of the decision making processes. Now I really try to make sure that people in our school are involved and things are not just coming from the top down.
Goodman became a Wall Street investment banker following her graduation from Stony Brook University in 1999. By 2006, she had earned both a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in biostatistics from Harvard University.
In 2017, Goodman joined NYU as an associate professor — two years after GPH was founded — after teaching at the School of Medicine in both Stony Brook and Washington University. After holding multiple administrative roles at GPH, she served as the interim dean from 2024 to 2025 while still teaching biostatistics at the school.
Goodman told WSN that as someone who grew up in a low-income household, her goal to become a faculty member at NYU was driven by her desire to assist students with similar backgrounds.
WSN: What was it like being a part of the early days of GPH?
Goodman: I was the first hire into the biostatistics department here. I served as interim chair of that department, and I like to think I helped start it. I’m the one who put in the application to start our Masters of Science and biostatistics degree. It’s one of our most popular degrees here at the school.
WSN: What was it like to go from a faculty member to administrator?
Goodman: When I was interim chair I didn’t want to do academic administration, so I told the dean at the time — the founding dean of the school — that I just wanted to be a regular faculty member. It was about a year later that she told me I should be the dean for research, and if I end up not liking that job then I can say I don’t like administration. I ended up really enjoying being the dean for research. I basically called myself ‘Glinda the Good Witch’ because I was helping faculty do the work that they wanted to do, trying to find unique and creative ways to help them and there was no punishment or anything negative to that job.
Goodman has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and two books. She’s also received awards such as the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2008 and the Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence in 1999 at Stony Brook University.
She also led a team to create the NYU Research Survey Engagement Tool, which was developed to track the involvement of partners, such as doctors, family members and patients, and help with the health research process. Dr. Goodman’s research efforts seek to develop a more rigorous understanding of the social factors contributing to urban health outcomes by using “partner-engaged research approaches” in high-risk populations.
WSN: What do you hope to gain from this role, either for yourself or for the NYU community?
Goodman: One of my goals is just to expose more NYU students to public health in general. I want more undergraduate students taking — even if it’s just one class — public health courses. I’m most excited about the future of our school. Because when I look back and see how much was accomplished in the first 10 years, I don’t think anyone thought 10 years ago that this is where we’ll be. I’m excited to see what we do with this foundation that we built in these first 10 years, and what we could actually do in the future.
Contact Eva Mundo at [email protected].