Sheila M. Rothman, Ph.D.
Professor of Public Health
Sheila M. Rothman is a Professor of Public Health in the Division of Sociomedical Sciences at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and Deputy Director of the Center for the Study of Society and Medicine at the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons.
Trained in social history, she received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Her research has explored American attitudes and policies past and present toward women, persons with mental disabilities, chronic diseases, and those at risk for genetic disease. Her books include Woman’s Proper Place: a History of Changing Ideals and Practices 1870 to the Present (1978) and Living in the Shadow of Death: Tuberculosis and the Experience of Illness in American History (1994). She has analyzed the process of deinstitutionalization in The Willowbrook Wars (co-author) (1984, reissued 2005).
Her most recent book co-authored with David Rothman is The Pursuit of Perfection: The Promise and Perils of Medical Enhancement (2003). Using historical and contemporary sources, it examines the development, promotion, and use of hormonal therapies as well as the promise and current development of genetic technologies.
Sheila Rothman has also written on the meaning of new technologies for individual and group identity and health policy. See Rothman SM, Rothman DJ “The Hidden Costs of Organ Sales,” American Journal of Transplantation, June 2006. A second article focuses on how internet technology is changing living organ donation patterns. Rothman SM, Rossario N, Rothman DJ, “The impact of information technology on organ donations: Private Values in a Public World,” in Blumenthal D, Rothman DJ Professionalism in a New Information Age (Rutgers University Press, 2010). She has also analyzed the links between emerging technologies and group identity. See Brandt-Rauf SI, Raveis VH. Drummond, N. Conte JA, Rothman, SM. “Ashkenazi Jews and Breast Cancer: The Consequences of Linking Ethnic Identity to Genetic Disease.” American Journal of Public Health November 2006.
Sheila Rothman has a long interest in Human Rights and Medicine. Together with David Rothman, she has published articles in The New York Review of Books on how AIDS came to Romania, medical accountability in Zimbabwe, the impact of organ donation policies in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines on socially disadvantaged groups. Trust is Not Enough: Bringing Human Rights to Medicine (2006) is a collection of these articles.
Sheila Rothman’s current research focuses on the relationships between health advocacy organizations and the pharmaceutical industry. She has just published an article on the marketing of Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. See Rothman SM, Rothman DJ “Marketing HPV Vaccine: Implications for Adolescent Health and Medical Professionalism,” Journal of the American Medical Association, August 2009. She is currently studying how health advocacy organizations inform consumers about their relationships with industry.
Susan Chimonas, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scholar
After graduating summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, Susan Chimonas earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan in 2000.
Before joining CMAP, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Rutgers University's Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research. Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health, her doctoral and postdoctoral research examined historical shifts in scientific and popular beliefs about children's mental health and socio-emotional development.
She is the lead author on a series of publications on physician-industry conflicts of interest, including "New Federal Guidelines For Physician-Pharmaceutical Industry Relations: The Politics Of Policy Formation," Health Affairs, (2005); "Physicians and Drug Representatives: Exploring the Dynamics of the Relationship" Journal of General Internal Medicine (2007); "Toeing the Line: With Added Scrutiny, Vendors Heeding Physician Marketing Rules," Modern Healthcare (2008); "No More Free Drug Samples," PLOS Medicine (2009); and "Show Us the Money: Lessons in Transparency from State Pharmaceutical Marketing Laws," Health Services Research (2010). She is also a co-author on "Health Industry Practices that Create Conflicts of Interest: A Policy Proposal for Academic Medical Centers," JAMA (2006), and "Professional Medical Associations and Their Relationships with Industry: A Proposal for Controlling Conflict of Interest," JAMA (2009).
At IMAP, Dr. Chimonas guides a team of investigators exploring the implementation of policies on conflict of interest at leading academic medical centers and other heatlhcare organizations. She and the other researchers are exploring how each organization manages physician-industry conflicts of interest and promotes evidence based, cost effective prescribing.
Michael Allegretti
Financial Coordinator
Michael Allegretti graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. After spending three years in Italy working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, he joined the Columbia University administrative staff. He manages the financial affairs and human resources for both the Center for the Study of Society and Medicine and the Center on Medicine as a Profession. His fiscal responsibilities include analyzing, preparing and managing budgets, monitoring grants and fund disbursements and reporting university data related to both centers' financial activities. Michael holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Frederica Stahl
Research Associate
Frederica graduated with honors from Harvard University in January 2008 with a B.A. in History of Science, Mind Brain Behavior. As an undergraduate, she ran a women's resource center at Boston Medical Center and worked on human rights and HIV/AIDS issues in Moscow, Russia. Her senior thesis traced the history of the pineal gland, focusing on the first biological experiments performed in the mid-20th century and the conceptual roots grounding the paradigm. Frederica joined CMAP in September 2008 and is working on the political and legal history of conflicts of interest in medicine.
Kevin McManemin
Web Communications Officer
Kevin graduated with honors from Washington and Lee University in 2000 with a degree in journalism. He has worked as a writer, editor, web developer and public relations associate for organizations ranging from national non-profits to dotcom start-ups. In 2010 he moved to New York City to join the Center on Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University as its Web Communications Officer. His responsibilities include pretty much exactly what the job title would lead you to believe.
Teresa Ryan
Administrative Coordinator
Terri Ryan received her bachelor's degree from Pace University with a major in finance. After working many years as an administrative assistant on Wall Street, she continued her career at Columbia University Medical Center in 2006. She recently joined the Center on Medicine as a Profession as the Administrative Coordinator. Her responsibilities include administrative and financial support of the Center's activities.
Leah Aronowsky
Research Associate
Leah Aronowsky graduated with High Honors from Wesleyan University in 2010 with a degree in the Science in Society Program with a concentration in history. Leah's thesis explored the interactions between the medical profession, state, and society in the history of birth control. The project is now being prepared for journal publication. In college, Leah spent a semester in Bamako, Mali as an intern at a family planning clinic. She also worked at Montefiore Medical Center as a research intern in the geriatrics division. Leah joined CMAP in July 2010 and is the coordinator of the Education and Training Initiative.
Phoebe Johnson-Black
Research Associate
Phoebe graduated with honors from Harvard in 2010 with a degree in Economics and a minor in Health Policy. As an undergraduate, she volunteered at Boston Medical Center and worked at the New York State Department of Health's AIDS Institute. Her senior thesis, now being submitted for publication, explored the impact of Massachusetts health reform on preventable Emergency Department visits. Phoebe joined CMAP in July 2010 and is the Program Coordinator for the Physician Advocacy Program.
Part-time faculty/staff
Karen Brudney, M.D.
Faculty Associate
Karen Brudney, M.D. assists CMAP in it's project on physician involvement in interrogation and detainee affairs. Her work at the Center focuses on physicians' conduct in dual-loyalties situations and the appropriate rules and regulations set by professional medical associations.
At Columbia University Medical Center, Dr. Brudney is the director of the Infectious Diseases/AIDS Clinic , and the director of the tuberculosis service at NY-Presbyterian Hospital. She has extensive experience in tuberculosis management, having developed and helped to establish the National Tuberculosis Control Program under the Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the 1980s. Subsequently, she has worked continuously in the tuberculosis control program in the New York City Department of Health and Mental hygiene and served as a consultant to the WHO tuberculosis program, evaluating tuberculosis programs in South America.
As the Infectious Diseases Clinic Director at Columbia, she leads a multi-disciplinary staff of nurses, physicians, social workers, health educators and peer educators treating patients with AIDS. She has developed a medication adherence program, Jumpstart, which has served as the model for AIDS treatment programs throughout New York City as well as in the Dominican Republic and numerous countries that were former Soviet Republics. She has taught physicians and health educators from these countries under the auspices of the Open Society Institute annual program, “Anti-retroviral treatment for Vulnerable Populations”. She was the Principle Investigator of a five year US National Institute of Health Fogarty International Center training program for HIV care in the Dominican Republic and conducted clinical and behavioral research on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and stigma.
Victoria H. Raveis, Ph.D.
Faculty Associate
Dr. Raveis provides methodological assistance for the Center, particularly with its publications on conflict of interest. She shares her expertise in study design, statistical analysis, qualitative methods, and interpretation of results. Her rigor in these fields has proven essential to enhancing IMAP's research capacity.
Victoria Raveis, Ph.D., a medical sociologist, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences, Co-Director of the Center for the Psychosocial Study of Health and Illness and the Director of the Aging and Public Health program in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences in Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She is also a Research Member in the Population Science Program, Prevention, Control and Disparities of the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC)/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and serves as the Vice-Chair of CUMC Institutional Review Board 3.
A behavioral health researcher and educator, Dr. Raveis’ work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Nursing Research, Human Resources Services Administration, the Department of Defense and various foundations. Her program of research investigates the psychological, social and practical issues surrounding adaptation to illness, managing disease, and living with health risks. She is engaged in developing and implementing in the community evidence-based, culturally-sensitive palliative and hospice programs and supportive services to diverse vulnerable and medically underserved populations. Her investigations have demonstrated the importance of focusing on the dynamics and diversity of the family care situation in an aging society, as well as attending to the broader social and cultural context within which informal support and health care are delivered.