Harold Cox is the Professor of the Practice of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health. Trained as a social worker, he has extensive experience in direct services, administration, and advocacy in a variety of public health care settings, including developmental disabilities, HIV/AIDS, and governmental public health.

Professor Cox served for 14 years as the Associate Dean of Practice and was the first director of the Activist Lab, a catalyst for engaging public health school faculty, staff, and students in local community affairs.

Professor Cox is an appointee to the Massachusetts Public Health Council and a board member of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund. He is the past president of Massachusetts Public Health Association, past president of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition, past chair of the Boston AIDS Planning Council, a past board member of the Boston Public Health Commission, and former member of DentaQuest’s Oral Health Foundation. He has sat on many other advisory committees, including the Massachusetts Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Cross Jurisdictional Sharing Advisory Committee

Professor Cox is a recipient of numerous awards, including the American Public Health Association's Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health, the Rebecca Lee Award for outstanding commitment to public health from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Hilliard award for outstanding achievement from Massachusetts Health Officers Association. He received the Paul Revere Award for outstanding public health service from the Massachusetts
Public Health Association.

Prior to joining Boston University, Harold Cox served for 10 years as chief public health officer for the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was responsible for managing all aspects of the city's health department. During his tenure, Professor Cox led the process to make Cambridge a non-smoking city. He helped to organize Clean Air Works, a regional initiative including 19 Massachusetts towns to promote smoke-free work environments. This initiative was instrumental in moving Massachusetts to become the 3rd smoke-free state in the country. He worked with the Cambridge Kid’s Council and Agenda for Children to develop programs addressing literacy and out-of-school-time. He developed a regional public health consortium to coordinate emergency preparedness and disaster response. He also started the Cambridge Advanced Practice Center for Emergency Preparedness, which developed policies and program implementation for 27 communities surrounding Cambridge. Professor Cox also worked as Director of Client Services for the AIDS Action Committee, and in various capacities serving individuals and families with intellectual deficits.

Professor Cox volunteers at the Boston Men’s Homeless Shelter and the St. Mary’s food pantry. He engages in narrative storytelling and has been featured on many platforms, including The Moth, PBS’ Stories from the Stage, Fugitive Stories, RISK, and Story Collider.