David J. Rothman

Who is David J. Rothman?

David J. Rothman is an American author and professor of Social Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He also serves as the President of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession. Rothman's work has focused on the social history of American medicine and current health care practices. His scholarship has also explored human rights in medicine, including organ trafficking, AIDS among Romanian orphans, and the ethics of research in third-world countries.

In 1971, Rothman wrote The Discovery of the Asylum, in which he explored mental hospitals, prisons, and almshouses. The book was co-winner of the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association.

In 2003, with an endowment from the Open Society Institute and George Soros, Rothman founded the Institute on Medicine as a Profession, an organization dedicated to making medical professionalism a field and a force. Through his work at IMAP, he has published: “Medical Professionalism; Focusing on the Real Issues”; “New Federal Guidelines for Physician-Pharmaceutical Industry Relations,”; “Marketing HPV Vaccine,”.