Jack Elinson (1917-2017) - The legacy of a pioneer

This study analyzes the education and professional career of Jack Elinson (1917-2017), pioneer in the field of sociomedical sciences in introducing its teaching and research in a school of public health at Columbia University, where he worked for thirty years (1956-1986). Elinson is acknowledged for his contributions to social psychology, statistics and medical sociology, especially on health care indicators and their relationship with quality of life. In 1985 he received the Leo G. Reeder Award from the American Sociological Association for his studies in the field of medical sociology. Jack Elinson, Renée Fox, Robert Straus, Eliot Freidson and many others were part of the group of the second generation of social scientists in the process of institutionalization of medical sociology/health care.