in memorium

Dr. Allan Rosenfield, the former Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health, and one of the most amazing people I have ever had the honor of meeting, passed away on Saturday. He was 75 and had ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). It is not an exaggeration to say that Dr. Rosenfield's work has saved and improved more lives and done more to improve reproductive health than anyone else I can think of. Through his work and his tireless advocacy, Dr. Rosenfield has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, primarily women and girls, as he pushed the field of public health, and the world, to focus on preventing maternal mortality and to "put the M back in MCH" (maternal and child health), as his seminal article was titled. He grew the MSPH to the major force it is today, and oversaw the training of thousands of students of public health in his 22-year tenure as Dean. He helped to found my department there, Population and Family Health, and so had a very real role in my life, although I never had the honor of studying with or working for him directly. He was Dean while I was a student there, and in addition to the work of running the school, raising money, researching, advising major foundations, and participating in the boards of every major repro health organization, he was very involved with the student body and eager to attend our events, hear our concerns, and mentor individual students.

Dr. Rosenfield is one of my heroes. I am so sorry we have lost him, and so grateful that I had the opportunity to be inspired by him. My thoughts are with his family and friends, and I hope that the work I do can be just a tiny part of a monument to him.