David Canning is Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Sciences and Professor of Economics and International Health at the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He has a PhD in economics from Cambridge University and has held faculty positions at the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, Columbia University, and Queen's University Belfast. He is currently associate director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. He has carried out extensive research on the impact of health improvements on economic outcomes and served as a member of Working Group One of the World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. He has also worked on the demographic dividend looking at how changes in fertility and age structure affect macroeconomic performance.
