Alan Hinman

HINMAN, Dr. Alan

After 88 years of an extraordinary life, Dr. Alan R. Hinman has shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the choir invisible, passing away on Monday, January 26, 2026.

Alan's greatest accomplishment by his own reckoning and according to all available evidence was convincing Lucy Householder to marry him. He originally lured her in with promises of classical music and Mexican food, and then wisely spent the next 60 years making good on the deal. Together they raised two daughters, Johanna and Katy, and a revolving, beloved supporting cast of cats.

Alan earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, his medical degree from Western Reserve University, and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. Beginning in 1965 with his training in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, he devoted his life to public health at the state, national, and international levels, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he served as Director of the Immunization Division (1977-1988) and later Director of the National Center for Prevention Services (1988-1995). He also worked with the state health departments of New York and Tennessee, rose to the rank of Assistant Surgeon General, and after retiring from governmental public health service joined The Task Force for Global Health in 1996. Alan authored or co authored more than 400 publications, served on the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and chaired a WHO advisory committee. In his later years, he continued teaching and mentoring as an adjunct professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

An avid runner and world traveler, Alan's work quite literally took him around the globe. And when he wasn't crossing time zones for public health, he was logging miles closer to home, including completing Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race 29 times, proof that his commitment to prevention extended even to preventing himself from sitting still for too long.

If you knew Alan professionally, you likely knew him as a public health leader through and through, brilliant, persistent, and unusually gifted at making complex issues understandable without making people feel small. Colleagues recall his unmatched communication skills and his legendary editing. One longtime collaborator fondly remembers Alan's orange ink pen, nicknamed "Agent Orange" a title bestowed by others, not Alan, as it went to work immunizing draft after draft against confusion, one sharply chosen phrase at a time. Alan played a major role in advancing the first Presidential Initiative on Immunization during the Carter Administration, encouraging states to enact and enforce school immunization mandates to prevent outbreaks of vaccine preventable disease. His work helped reduce suffering in the United States and around the world, including critical contributions toward polio eradication and measles elimination efforts. Alan didn't just talk about protecting communities, he helped build the systems that actually did it.

Alan also served the American Public Health Association with deep devotion, including many years on the Executive Board and 11 years as Speaker of the Governing Council (1996-2007). During his tenure, the Governing Council experienced meaningful growth and modernization, including standing rules that continue to guide the Association and the further formalization of

the policy statement process. Alan took special pride in what the family affectionately called the Hinman APHA connection, now spanning four generations, and in the delightfully improbable achievement of perhaps being the first family to hold three simultaneous seats on the Governing Council, each representing a different unit. He was especially proud of the leadership of his daughter Johanna Hinman and his daughter in law, Lisa Carlson (APHA Past President), both of whom have strengthened the Association with their own tireless service.

In 1998, Alan helped form what became a global institution in its own right, the Vaccine Dinner Club, a now international science club whose motto, "Hot Food, Cool Science ... Count Me In!" captured Alan perfectly. The club's reach and impact are inseparable from his vision, contacts, and steady encouragement. Many members can still picture him, smiling in the front row, as reliably present as a booster shot.

Alan identified as a secular humanist, a label he happily adopted after a quiz confidently told him it fit. Nevertheless, he attended church every Sunday at the congregations where his daughter Katy served as pastor, not out of obligation to a creed, but out of devotion to his daughter.

At home, Alan was a devoted husband, father, and - depending on the day - cat wrangler, storyteller, and patient listener. Despite a running family joke that Johanna and Katy were adopted from (or by) space aliens, the genetic and emotional connections were clear. And if anyone wondered whether it's a good idea to drag your children up the Great Wall of China in 100+ degree heat, Alan's answer was instant: "Of course it's a good idea!" His love of silly songs, word play, and Monty Python ensured lively banter and music were always present.

Alan is survived by his wife of 60 years, Lucy Hinman; his daughters, Johanna Hinman and Katy Hinman; Johanna's wife, Lisa Carlson; Katy's husband, Jonathan Brown; and his grandchildren, Francis, Cinthia, and Jose; his sister-in-law, Jean Hinman; niece Cindy Hartmann; nephews Alan and David Hinman. He is also survived by a wide community of extended family, colleagues, students, and friends, many of whom are healthier today because Alan spent his life helping the rest of us take prevention seriously. Alan was preceded in death by his parents, E. Harold and Katharine Fradenburgh Hinman, and his brother Edward Hinman.

Alan would be the first to remind us that public health is, at heart, an act of love: for neighbors you know, and neighbors you will never meet. If you're looking for a way to honor him, consider doing something wonderfully Alan-ish: tell the truth clearly, show up consistently, share a good meal with smart people, and yes keep your vaccinations up to date. He spent a lifetime making sure the world had a fighting chance.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites friends and colleagues to honor Alan's life and work through donations to causes close to his heart, including The Task Force for Global Health; The Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion at AAAS; The Hinman-Carlson Family Scholarship at the Rollins School of Public Health; The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; and WABE.

Family and friends gathered for a time of remembrance on Thursday January 29, 2026 at A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home & Crematory, 2773 N. Decatur Rd. Decatur, Georgia 30033.