Howard Barkan MPH ’79, DrPH ’80 died unexpectedly on July 20, 2016. He was 70. His medical research skills emphasizing biostatistics accuracy were his trademark. A legacy of collaboration makes all who knew him proud. Barkan was a long time consultant at Health Research for Action, a School-affiliated research center. He was well known there for mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students as they developed their analytic skills. Barkan “always advised the students to jump right in and ‘play’ with the data and the analysis program to understand how it worked and where they had questions,” said Dr. Karen Sokal-Gutierrez, clinical professor with the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, whose students worked with Barkan.
He was also a photographer and jazz guitarist, active in many community venues. He is survived by wife Annette (MPH ’77) and daughter, Lauren.
Dr. Barkan is memorialized in a piece written by Dr. Ivan Oransky, a distinguished writer in residence in the Arthur Carter Journalism Institute, New York University. Dr. Oransky describes Dr. Barkan as “a generous and patient teacher who loved imparting wisdom and helping others improve their own work.”