Harold Pollack

Co-Founder

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Harold Pollack is the Helen Ross Professor at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. He is also an Affiliate Professor in the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division and the Department of Public Health Sciences.

Co-founder of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, he is co-director of the University of Chicago Health Lab. He is a committee member of the Center for Health Administration Studies (CHAS) at the University of Chicago. His current NIH-funded research concerns improved services for individuals at the boundaries of the behavioral health and criminal justice systems, disabilities, and two major new efforts to address the opioid epidemic in Illinois and across the nation.

Past President of the Health Politics and Policy section of the American Political Science Association, Professor Pollack has been appointed to three committees of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University. He holds master’s and doctorate degrees in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Before coming to Crown Family School, Professor Pollack was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at Yale University and taught Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Harold’s Resources
Thinking, Fast And Slow? Some Field Experiments To Reduce Crime And Dropout In Chicago
Academic Paper

Thinking, Fast And Slow? Some Field Experiments To Reduce Crime And Dropout In Chicago

Feb 2017
Letter to Gun Violence Commission
Open Letter

Letter to Gun Violence Commission

Jan 2013

The Crime Lab and professors around the country sent a letter to then Vice President Biden and the Gun Violence Commission.

Gun Violence Among School-Age Youth in Chicago
Report

Gun Violence Among School-Age Youth in Chicago

Mar 2009

This report from 2009 provides an overview of youth violence in Chicago. 

Harold’s Projects
Understanding Underground Gun Markets

Understanding Underground Gun Markets

The Crime Lab explored how people access firearms and ammunition in the illicit market.

Becoming a Man

Becoming a Man

Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man (BAM) uses insights from behavioral science to help youth navigate high-stakes situations.