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This year, the HIV Center marked with sadness the passing of
three colleagues and friends.
 Allan Rosenfield, M.D., Dean Emeritus of the
Columbia
University Mailman School of Public Health,
passed away on October 12. Rosenfield was renowned for his work
on women’s reproductive health and human rights, innovative
family planning studies, strategies to address the tragedy of
maternal deaths in poor countries, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
both domestically and globally. His broad vision to improve
women’s health includes groundbreaking work in areas such as
training non-medical personnel in prescribing contraceptives;
averting maternal mortality and morbidity from pregnancy-related
complications; and care and treatment for HIV-infected women and
children in resource-limited settings globally. (For a more
complete statement from the Mailman School,
click here.)
In a campus-wide message, Columbia University President Lee
Bollinger, J.D. said, "Allan was a leading scholar in women's
health, a pioneer in addressing AIDS/HIV, an advocate and
caregiver for the poor and disadvantaged everywhere, a teacher
to everyone who came near him, a builder of institutions and
especially of the Mailman School of Public Health where he
served as Dean for 22 remarkable years, and a dear friend to so
many of us.
"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. Columbia will miss him and the world will
miss him. We send our condolences to his wife, Clare, and his
entire family."
In her own message to the HIV Center, Director
Anke Ehrhardt,
Ph.D. added, "We at the HIV Center owe a special thanks to Allan
who was supportive of our efforts from the beginning. At the
founding of the HIV Center in 1987, Zena Stein was the
Associate Dean of the School of Public Health and was, as the
Founding Co-Director of our Center, the initial and ongoing
bridge to Public Health. Indeed, through the HIV Center's
history we have enjoyed a productive and close collaboration
with many of our colleagues at the Mailman School of Public
Health. Allan served on our original Advisory Council and
remained a friend and supporter. He very much wanted to
participate in our 20 year Anniversary events and spent most of the day
with us on March 27, 2008."
"Allan Rosenfield was a remarkable man who left his imprint
on women's reproductive rights and services and the global fight
against HIV/AIDS around the world," Dr. Ehrhardt's message
continued. "He became even more of an
inspiration to many of us during the last two years when he led
his public battle against ALS with great courage and tenacity,
refusing to be defeated by his illness and coming to work every
day until a few weeks before his death. He will remain in
our minds and hearts and provide us with his example of passion,
determination and leadership." |
 Sutherland Miller, Ph.D.
was a research scientist and a prominent member of several
research teams during the 1990s. A former Commissioner of
Mental Health for the state of Vermont and Director of Mental
Health for the state of Colorado, Miller had a varied career
that included time as Director of the Columbia University
College Counseling Center, an Assistant Dean at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, and a faculty member for the NIMH
staff college.
At the HIV Center, Miller developed HIV
prevention interventions for diverse populations including
Latina adolescents, gay and lesbian teenagers, women and their
partners, and serodiscordant male couples. "Sutherland had
a rare gift for really listening to, and understanding, members
of the community -- and then using all his skills and experience
to translate their ideas into effective interventions," noted
HIV Center investigator Joyce Hunter, D.S.W., who collaborated
with Miller on her "Working It Out" video-based intervention
for LGBT youth.
At the time of
his death in April, Miller was 75 years of
age. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Pringle, and had
been predeceased by his first wife, the former Barbara Ann
Bowens. Other survivors include his daughters Robin and
Laura, and his son Sutherland. To read a complete obituary
provided by his daughter, Dr. Robin Miller,
click here.
 Although
he did not have a formal affiliation with the HIV Center,
Michael Shernoff, M.S.W. was a major figure in HIV
prevention in New York City and a collaborator with a number of
HIV Center investigators including
Robert Remien, Ph.D.,
Joyce
Hunter, D.S.W.,
Raymond Smith, Ph.D., and
Robert Kertzner, M.D.
He was also on the adjunct faculty of the
Columbia University
School of Social Work.
Shernoff was a pioneer in the
promotion of safer-sex practices among gay men through as series
of workshops provided by Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) in
New York and later across North America. He was also known for his private practice as a
social worker and for books and other publications on such topics as
gay widowers, bare-backing, and mental health-related aspects of
HIV infection; several of his edited volumes include chapters by
HIV Center investigators. "From the earliest days of the epidemic, Michael
offered a clear -- and yes, often loud -- voice about the need
to intervene with gay men, who were and remain the group most
heavily affected by HIV/AIDS in New York City and throughout the
nation," noted HIV Center investigator Robert Remien, Ph.D.
A long-term survivor with HIV, Shernoff died at
age 57 of pancreatic cancer in July; he is survived by his
partner, John Goodman. To view Shernoff's obituary in The New
York Times,
click here. For his professional website,
click here.
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