A founding member of Global Public Health's international editorial advisory board
Allan Rosenfield passed away on the 12th October 2008, in Hartsdale, New York, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren.
Allan was born in 1933 in the USA and ended his life as a global champion for women's health. For over four decades, Allan worked on women's reproductive health and human rights, innovative family planning programmes and strategies to address maternal deaths around the world. He was famous within the health community for insisting the ‘M’ be put back into ‘Maternal and Child Health.’ In 1985 he published a call to action in the Lancet, co-authored with Deborah Maine, entitled ‘Maternal mortality – a neglected tragedy: Where is the M in MCH?’, drawing attention to the many women dying in pregnancy and childbirth around the globe. One of his later notable contributions was the formation of the mother-to-child transmission-plus initiative which has brought comprehensive HIV/AIDS health care to thousands.
In the 1960s, before HIV and AIDS became a global concern, Allan worked in Thailand, advising the Thai Ministry of Health on reproductive, maternal and child health issues. In 1975, he joined the Columbia University faculty as a Professor of Public Health and Obstetrics/Gynaecology, as well as Director of Columbia's new Centre for Population and Family Health. He focussed the Centre's efforts on both global and local outreach, impacting population health in low-income countries alongside if community-based programmes in Upper Manhattan. He served as national chairman of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 1985 to 1986 and was chairman of the Program Board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
In 1986, Allan was appointed Dean of the School of Public Health, Columbia University, where he worked tirelessly for 22 years to transform what was a small school of public health into the leading academic institution that it is today. The Mailman School today has service and research projects in over 100 countries and a world class faculty, almost all of whom were appointed during his tenure as Dean. The values he instilled at the School – those of social justice, health as a human right, and the importance of rigorous research and committed advocacy – are part of his remarkable legacy.
Allan was a pioneer in the field of global health, a living testimony to the power of one person's vision for a healthier and more dignified world. He will be enormously missed.