Media Center: Press Release

Representative Henry Waxman and noted medical experts discuss scientific integrity at event honoring Dr. Allan Rosenfield, MD

Washington, DC—Dr. Allan Rosenfield, MD, was honored today with the 2006 Kenneth J. Ryan, MD, Physician Leadership Award for his visionary leadership and undaunted commitment to improving reproductive health through research, medical education and advocacy.  Currently serving as the Dean of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Rosenfield is a world-renowned expert in population, women’s reproductive health, maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS, human rights, and health policy.

“Quite literally, millions of women and children around the world, particularly in the developing world, have benefited from Dr. Rosenfield’s active involvement,” said Fredric D. Frigoletto Jr., MD, a member of the program committee for the award.  “There are few people who so embody the needs and aspiration of women and their reproductive health, and fewer still who have provided such outstanding leadership for innovative directions to achieve them.”  Among his many initiatives, Dr. Rosenfield founded a program that addressed mother-to-child transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus, one of the first programs in resource-poor settings to focus on treatment that went beyond essential prevention efforts.

The Physician Leadership Award is given each year by Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) and members of the Ryan family to commemorate Dr. Kenneth J. Ryan, an outstanding scientist, inspirational teacher, and forceful advocate who changed the face of reproductive health care in the United States.  This award honors Dr. Ryan’s legacy by recognizing improvements in reproductive health through ethical and evidence-based research, provider education and advocacy.

The presentation of this year’s Physician Leadership Award to Dr. Rosenfield included a panel discussion on scientific integrity featuring leading experts from politics and medicine.  Speakers included: Representative Henry Waxman (D-California), whose leadership led to the seminal report Politics and Science in the Bush Administration; Dr. Laura Myers, MD, an expert in fetal anesthesia; and Dr. Michael Greene, MD, associate editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.  Harry S. Jonas, MD, recipient of the first Kenneth J. Ryan Physician Leadership Award in 2004, moderated the panel.