The Life of David Rogers, M.D
"In recent years, we have done much hand-wringing in medicine about our fall from grace as competition, micro-management, and more and more regulations have entered our hallowed world. As a profession, we have done too little to demonstrate our social conscience, our commitment to our patients and the welfare of the broader communityÉ I believe we have a collective responsibility as a profession to be social activists."
David Rogers, M.D.
David Rogers was one of the youngest graduates
of the Cornell University Medical College. He
did his residency training at Johns Hopkins
Medical Center, and returned to the New York
Hospital-Cornell Medical Center for an infectious
disease fellowship. He joined the faculty
after his medical training, but soon thereafter, he
was recruited to Vanderbilt School of Medicine in
Nashville, Tennessee where he became the
youngest Chair of a Department of Medicine in
the United States. Subsequently, he became Dean
of the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins from
which he was recruited to become the first
President of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, the largest foundation in the United
States devoted exclusively to health. At the
Foundation, he created several enduring programs
including the RWJ Clinical Scholars
Program and RWJ Health Policy Fellows
Program. When he retired from the Foundation,
he returned to Cornell University Medical
College as the Walsh McDermott University
Professor of Medicine. At the end of his remarkable
career, Dr. Rogers became a major advisor for
the New York State AIDS Advisory Council and
Vice-Chair of the PresidentÕs National
Commission on AIDS. He was responsible for
the national guidelines on AIDS policy and
physicians.
