Prominent AIDS Expert Dies of ALS at Age 75
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor
Friday Oct 17, 2008

A leading scientific voice in the fight against AIDS has died, reportedly of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Dr. Allan Rosenfield died at his Hartsdale, NY home on Oct. 12, at the age of 75, reported The New York Times in an Oct. 16 article.

Though Rosenfield had lived with ALS for several years, it was only this past summer that he retired.

The American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR, issued a Oct. 16 release commemorating Dr. Rosenfield’s contributions and his long career in medicine and public health.

Rosenfield served as amfAR’s program board’s chair, and was a dean emeritus of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Said Levin Robert Frost, the CEO of amfAR, "Allan Rosenfield was a giant in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and an inspiration to us all."

Continued Frost, "His deep commitment to advocating for those most vulnerable never wavered--he was a compassionate humanitarian and a great friend to amfAR."

Rosenfield was not only active in AIDS advocacy, but was also a strong proponent for women’s health issues, serving as National Chairman of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in the mid-1980s and campaigning tirelessly for health initiatives for mothers and children in poorer countries.

On the AIDS front, Rosenfield testified numerous times to Congress about the need for research in combating AIDS, and was a supporter of hypodermic needles exchange programs intended to prevent the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users.

Rosenfield’s early career focused on health care for mothers in developing countries; he lived and worked in Thailand, advising the government there on health issues for women and children, and for as well as on issues of population. Rosenfield also advocated for mothers living with AIDS in Africa, and in 2000 established the MTCT-Plus Initiative, designed to help prevent transmission of HIV from positive mothers to their newborns.

Rosenfield became a member of the faculty at Columbia in 1975, where he directed Columbia’s Center for Population and Family Health and served as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and also of public health.

Among his other professional roles, Rosenfield also served as the chair for New York’s state Department of Health AIDS Advisory Council.