Yale health economist Singer dies at 87

Burton Herbert Singer, a statistician and epidemiologist whose research influenced health policy and helped drive epidemic interventions worldwide, died Feb. 15, 2026. He was 87.

Singer was a professor of economics and statistics at Yale University and former associate dean of the Yale School of Public Health. His research spanned statistical methods for longitudinal surveys, vector-borne tropical disease, health impact assessments for economic development projects, and the management of patients with multiple chronic conditions.

Born in Chicago, Singer obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from the Case Institute of Technology in 1959 and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1961. He received his doctorate in statistics from Stanford University in 1967.

Singer began his academic career at Columbia University, where he taught for 17 years, chaired the Department of Statistics and met his wife, Eugenia. He also chaired a World Health Organization steering committee on social and economic research in tropical diseases during that period.

He joined Yale in 1984 and served as associate dean of the School of Public Health and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health from 1989 to 1993. He later held a professorship of public and international affairs at Princeton University until 2009 and was an adjunct professor at the University of Florida from 2015 until his death.

Singer was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1994 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2005. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1981-82.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Eugenia McGinness; children Gregory Singer, Maureen Harrell and Sheila Singer; five grandchildren; and a niece and nephew.