In Memoriam: Laurie Schwab Zabin, 1926-2020

Laurie Schwab Zabin, a former professor of population, family and reproductive health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and an internationally recognized expert on adolescent pregnancy, abortion, and sexual behavior, died from natural causes at Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson, Maryland. She was 94 years old.

A native of New York City, Dr. Zabin was a graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she majored in English. She held a master’s degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in English from Johns Hopkins University. She earned a second Ph.D. in public health at Johns Hopkins at the age of 53.

After earning her second Ph.D., Dr. Zabin joined the faculty at the medical school at Johns Hopkins University and in 1986 transferred to what is now the School of Public Health. There, she was the founding director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, established in 1999 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As the institute’s director until 2002, Dr. Zabin led its work to advance family planning and reproductive health in the developing world. Since its founding the institute has trained more than 850 fellows, scholars, and visiting scholars from more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America in strategic leadership and research methodologies.

The School of Public Health named a scholarship in Dr. Zabin’s honor.