The worlds of public health and reproductive health have lost a great leader.  The Dean Emeritus of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia has passed away at the age of 75.  Dr. Rosenfield was an OB/GYN with a passion for women’s rights and access to comprehensive reproductive health care.  He was also a champion of projects related to reducing maternal mortality and to addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  It is largely because of Dr. Rosenfield that the Population and Family Health department at Columbia is so strong and robust.  He started in PopFam and always looked out for us once he was the dean of the entire school (which comprises 7 departments).

We were all devastated to learn that Dr. Rosenfield had been struck by ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) 3 years ago.  He had a long and full career in which he made enormous contributions to the fields of public health and reproductive health.  But it’s always tragic to learn that a great leader is suffering and ultimately that he is mortal.  In June of 2006 I sent an email to friends linking to this article, which had made me cry.  Dr. Rosenfield remained strong and dignified to the end.  He hosted a reception at last year’s APHA conference (American Public Health Association) and though he was immobile in a wheelchair he was engaged with everyone there and seemed pleased to see so many students from my class at the reception.

I will miss knowing that Dr. Rosenfield is out there fighting the good fight with the rest of us.  But I feel very honored to have been trained to follow his lead and to work with others to pick up where he left off.

See tributes from other PopFam members here:  Mandi, Suzanne