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 community. 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.