This morning, Allen Rosenfield, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health from 1986 until earlier this year, and a 1959 graduate of the Medical School, died after battling with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). In an email to the Columbia University community, President Bollinger wrote that “his commitment to improving the lives of people all across the world, from our own neighborhoods of upper Manhattan to the rural villages of sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, was the personification of everything we strive to achieve as a University community.”

In addition to serving as Dean for 22 years, Rosenfield was also known for his work in women’s health and fighting HIV/AIDS. He began his career as an obstetrician gynecologist, and he particularly focused on HIV transmission between women and their children, and the public health issues that surrounded prevention of the transmission. He chaired various boards throughout his career, including those of the New York Obstetrical Society, the American Public Health Association,  and the Alan Guttmacher Institute.