Alexander Duff Robertson papers

Alexander Duff Robertson was born on April 28,1926, in Dunkfield, England. He received an M.B. from the University of Edinburgh in 1949, a D.P.H. from the University of London in 1955, and an M.D. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1961.

At the University of Edinburgh, Robertson was a researcher in social medicine (1941-1951), a lecturer in public health and social medicine, and a lecturer in the general practice teaching unit (1951-1954). From 1955 to 1958, he was a lecturer in social and preventive medicine at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London and in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Topical Medicine.

In 1958, Robertson became head of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan where he remained until accepting the executive directorship of the Milbank Memorial Fund in New York City in 1962. During his time at the Milbank Memorial Fund, he launched and developed the Milbank Faculty Fellowship which impacted the development of social medicine. From 1969 until 1990, he worked in several capabilities for the World Health Organization (WHO) beginning with the position of chief of human resources in the Caribbean for two years. From 1972 to 1973, he served as regional advisor for medical education and public health; public health administrator; director of health manpower development; and, finally, as the director of health services in the regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Alexandria, Egypt. In 1983, he moved to Geneva, where he was the program manager for staff development and training for WHO until 1986. From 1986 to 1990, he served as special advisor to the director general of WHO for the occupied Arab Territories, including Palestine.

Robertson also held part-time academic positions as a lecturer in Public Health andAdministrative Medicine from 1963 until 1971 at Columbia University and as a lecturer in Public Health (International Health) at Yale University from 1966 to 1971. His publications focused on medical education, community medicine, and social science as related to medicine. He served on numerous boards and at times as an officer in the public sector. He was a leading figure in the field of modern public health especially in the development of health services in the United States. He died on June 29, 1991.