Dr. Emily Mumford was a renowned sociologist whose work found that psychotherapy patients adopted healthier lifestyles that lowered future medical care costs. She was named a TU Distinguished Alumna in 1988 (posthumous).

Dr. Mumford was born in Missouri and graduated from TU in 1941 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She completed master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from Columbia University and launched a successful career in medical sociology. She worked as a professor of clinical sociomedical sciences in psychiatry and public health at Columbia University and as chief of the division of health utilization and policy research at the New York Psychiatric Institute.

Dr. Mumford authored three books and numerous articles. She was married to Herbert J. Schlesinger, PhD, Albert J. Marrow Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research.