Dalla Lana School of Public Health

When Professor Ted Witek started out as a master’s student at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), he wasn’t sure if he belonged.

“When I sat in the auditorium for my first class, I was intimidated,” recalls Witek, who grew up in Connecticut and earned his BSc from Quinnipiac University. “I wasn’t sure I belonged there. I joked that I was just a country boy in this Ivy League school.” 

Despite those initial doubts, Witek found his place – and his purpose. Now more than forty years later, his remarkable contributions to public health, pharmaceutical research, and academia have earned him the Yale School of Public Health’s 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Since 1988, the annual award has celebrated Yale alumni who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in public health. Past honorees include Bhutan’s former Minister of Health and Yale New Haven’s Hospital CEO. The committee cited Witek’s “extraordinary level of achievement in all these areas and a very distinguished career in public health.”

Witek’s passion for public health stems from a deeply personal experience. As a child, he watched his younger brother struggle with asthma and observed the relief when therapy eased his breathing. That moment ignited his drive to help not only individuals like his brother but also larger populations.

“The ability of public health to make an impact is what drove me to that discipline,” says Witek.  

And the impact of Witek’s work on respiratory public health, airway disease and drug development has been great.  

Witek has published more than 100 manuscripts and chapters. His research on the health effects of sulfur dioxide, initiated at Yale, became pivotal evidence in shaping revisions of the Clean Air Act. He later wrote a textbook on pharmacology and therapeutics in respiratory care. 

In his research, Witek explored the use of different technologies to study airway function, such as laser doppler velocimetry to measure nasal blood flow. As a pharmaceutical researcher and executive with Boehringer Ingelheim, Witek applied public health concepts to clinical trials and brought game-changing respiratory drugs to market.  

“Ultimately, the drugs that I was responsible for international development were there to help people like my brother,” says Witek, who started as the company’s Director of Clinical Research and rose through the ranks to become the President and CEO.  

In addition to his work on the international stage, Witek also made a difference at the local level. In his home state of Connecticut, he played a key role in establishing his region’s first public health department, collaborating with local governments and communities — a milestone he considers among his most rewarding achievements.

Throughout his career as a leader in public health and respiratory science, Witek was also a perpetual learner. Following his master’s from Yale, he also earned an MBA from the UK’s Henley Business School and a doctorate in public health (DrPH) from Columbia University. He now serves as the director of DLSPH’s DrPH program, the first of its kind in Canada.  

Returning to academia as a professor and program director, Witek draws on his experience as a student at Yale and the way his professors inspired, guided and shaped his thinking. “I am now able to make that impact through our DrPH students,” he says.  

When Witek found out he was being honoured by his alma mater, he reflected on that uncertain first day at Yale and the career that followed. Witek says receiving YSPH’s Distinguished Alumni Award is proof “that you can pretty much do anything.”