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Nicholas King

Nicholas B. King is the Associate Director of the Trottier Institute for Science and Public Policy at 91, where he holds appointments in the School of Population and Global Health and the Max Bell School of Public Policy. Dr. King studies the ways that 'black boxes' – from health and health inequality metrics to complex algorithms and large language models – are shaped by human interests and value judgments, and in turn shape individual decisions, collective behavior, and public policy. He has published in the American Journal of Public Health, Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, Milbank Quarterly, PLOS Medicine, and Social Science & Medicine.

Curriculum vitae


Course offered:

Core Policy Course: Experts, Science, and Evidence in Public Policy

Previously taught:

Complexity Seminar: Science in the Policy Process


ٱ𲵰:

Ph.D., Harvard University (History of Science)

MA, Harvard University (Medical Anthropology) 

BA, University of Pennsylvania (History)


Recent publications: 

  • (2022) Okhmatovskaia A, Buckeridge DL, Shen Y, Ganser I, King NB, Collier N, Meng Z. “A conceptual framework for representing events under public health surveillance.” Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 294.
  • (2022) Meng Z, Okhmatovskaia A, Polleri M, Powell G, Shen Y, Fu Z, Ganser I, King NB, Buckeridge D, Collier N. “BioCaster in 2021: Detecting Disease Outbreaks from Global News Media.” Bioinformatics 38(18).
  • (2021) Dimitris M, Gittings M, King NB. “How Global is Global Health Research? A Large-Scale Analysis of Trends in Authorship” BMJ Global Health 6(1).
  • (2021) Harper SB, Riddell C, King NB. “Declining Life Expectancy in the United States: Missing the Trees for the Forest.” Ann Rev Pub Hlth 42(1).
  • (2021) King NB. “Science and Public Policy in a Post-Pandemic World.” In Jean-Louis Denis, Catherine Régis & Daniel Weinstock, Pandemic Societies (Montreal: 91-Queen’s University Press).
  • (2020) King NB. “Harm Reduction: A Misnomer.” Health Care Analysis 28.
  • (2020) Cooper JE, Benmarhnia T, Koski A, King NB. “Cash transfer programs have differential effects on health: A review of the literature from low and middle-income countries.” Social Science & Medicine.
  • (2020) King NB, Koski A. “Defining global health as public health somewhere else.” BMJ Global Health. 
  • (2020) King NB. “Technological Fixes and Antimicrobial Resistance.” In Zeb Jamrozik & Michael Selgelid, Ed. Ethics and Antimicrobial Resistance: Collective Responsibility for Global Public Health.
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