Alan M. Kraut

Alan M. Kraut is University Professor of History at American University and a non-resident fellow of the Migration Policy Institute, with additional affiliate faculty appointments in the Department of International Studies and Public Health Program. His career spans over four decades as a leading scholar in immigration history and medical historiography.

His academic credentials include a PhD and MA in History from Cornell University and a BA in History from Hunter College, CUNY, with reading knowledge of Spanish, French, and German.

Kraut's research centers on the intersection of immigration, ethnicity, and public health in American history. He pioneered scholarship on medical discrimination against immigrants, xenophobic disease narratives, and the social construction of the 'immigrant menace.' His work reveals how public health policies have historically served as vehicles for ethnic exclusion while documenting immigrant resilience and integration processes across multiple generations.

His publications form a cohesive trajectory examining how American society has historically processed immigration through medical, political, and cultural lenses. Key recurring themes include the weaponization of public health rhetoric against newcomers, the evolution of nativist sentiment, and the complex relationship between immigrant communities and American institutions.

Major recognitions include:

• Theodore Saloutos Prize for Silent Travelers
• Henry Adams Prize for Goldberger's War
• Arthur Viseltear Prize for Goldberger's War
• Lifetime Achievement Award from Immigration and Ethnic History Society (2017)
• Election as Fellow of the Society of American Historians

As a public intellectual, Kraut has advised over 20 major documentaries including PBS's History Detectives and American Experience, while his congressional testimony shaped immigration health policy. His research has received continuous support from the Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Smithsonian Institution, and National Institutes of Health across multiple decades.

He currently chairs the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's History Advisory Committee and leads efforts to establish a public health museum on Ellis Island's south side, building on his decades-long work with National Park Service sites and museum exhibitions nationwide.