Robert G. Newman

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section needs to be revised: Individual references should be incorporated into the running text.
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Robert G. Newman (born October 26, 1937 in The Hague - † August 1, 2018 in New York City ) was an American doctor, scientist, health manager and philanthropist.

Life

Robert Gabriel Newman was born as a child of German emigrants in The Hague, Netherlands. At this point in time, his parents, as Jews, were on the run from National Socialist Germany. The father, Rudolph Neumann (later Randolph Newman), and the mother Eva Neumann nee. Feilchenfeldt (later Eva Newman) were both lawyers. The family moved to New York City in August 1939. After the end of World War II, Newman lived in Frankfurt / Main for a few years, where his father was involved in the liquidation of IG Farben as a lawyer .

Newman received a bachelor's degree from Washington Square College, New York University in 1958 , completed a medical degree for MD (medical degree) at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry by 1963 and earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) at the school of Public Health University of California at Berkeley .

Professional positions included a .: 1967 service as a doctor with the US Air Force in Fukuoka, Japan, from 1970 Assistant Commissioner, Addiction Programs, New York City Department of Health, from 1976 Vice President and from 1978 to 1997 President and CEO (or Medical Director) of Beth Israel Medical Centers (BIMC) in Downtown Manhattan / New York City, 1997–2001 President and CEO of Continuum Health Partners, 2001–2013 Director of the Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute of BIMC.

From 1994 to 2012 Newman was professor at the Dept. of Epidemiology and Population Health and at the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences from Albert Einstein College of Medicine , New York City.

Newman's particular professional, scientific, and humanitarian interests were in the treatment of addicts, particularly those addicted to heroin. As early as 1968, Newman met the doctor couple Dr. Marie Nyswander and Dr. Vincent P. Dole , who began treating heroin addicts with methadone in New York City in 1964 .

Under the New York Health Administration Director Gordon Chase, during the tenure of New York Mayor John V. Lindsay , Newman was given the opportunity to introduce and expand methadone treatment on a larger scale. This expansion was not without controversy. In 1998, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani even intended to significantly reduce local methadone programs, but was unable to enforce this.

Newman has advised numerous institutions around the world on the introduction of methadone therapy, for example in Hong Kong. This engagement earned him the nicknames “Methadone Apostle” or even “Methadone Pope” during his lifetime.

Newman played a special role in Germany in the late 1980s when a methadone program was introduced. The then North Rhine-Westphalian (NRW) Health Minister Hermann Heinemann initiated the scientific methadone test project of the state of NRW in 1987 against strong resistance from the abstinence-oriented specialist institutions and large parts of politics. During this time, Newman served as a specialist through lectures and committee participation and was also able to prove that even large methadone programs could be managed organizationally. During this time he learned a. a. know the Berlin forensic specialist Friedrich Bschor , who is also involved in drug medicine, and the activist Dorothea Klieber .

One of Newman's guiding principles on heroin addiction and methadone treatment was "It's a medical problem - for which a treatment exists, but for which at the moment a cure does not" ("It (heroin addiction) is a medical problem - for which treatment exists." but not a cure at the moment ”). Newman also repeatedly stressed the humanitarian side of methadone substitution.

In his private life, Newman was with Seiko Newman geb. Kusuba married. From this marriage a son and a daughter were born. Newman was killed in a car accident in the Bronx in June 2018.

Despite the circumstances of his birth on the flight of his parents from Germany and the persecution and murder of close relatives in National Socialist Germany, Newman often traveled to Germany, he still spoke fluent German and always had an unbiased relationship with his German colleagues and friends.

Awards

  • 1985 Nyswander / Dole “Marie” Awards (given by the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence / AATOD)
  • 1994 Norman E. Zinberg Memorial Lecture Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine (presented by Cambridge Hospital and Harvard Medical School)
  • 1996 David E. Rogers Award (presented by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
  • 2006 The International Rolleston Award (presented by the NGO Harm Reduction International); for an exceptional contribution to reducing drug harm
  • 2014 Order of the Rising Sun (awarded by the Japanese government), u. a. for exceptional promotion of medical academic exchange between Japan and the United States

literature

  • Robert G. Newman: Expansion of opiate agonist treatment: an historical perspective . In: Harm Reduction Journal , 2006, 3, p. 20, PMC 1557846 (free full text)
  • Obituary . In: The Lancet , Vol. 392, Issue 10152, p. 1008, September 22, 2018; obituary

(more detailed list also in the interview with Robert Newman 2011, see below)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Newman - Obituary. In: The New York Times. August 3, 2018, on Legacy.com. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  2. ↑ The Mayor's Crusade Against Methadone. The New York Times, August 18, 1998, accessed November 14, 2018
  3. ↑ Sam Roberts: Dr. Robert Newman, Apostle of Methadone Treatment, Dies at 80. In: The New York Times. August 8, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ “Marie” Awards: Winner 1985
  5. ^ Rogers Award: Winner 1996 .
  6. ^ Rolleston Awards: 2006 winners
  7. ↑ Order of the Rising Sun . Japanese Embassy in the USA, 2014

Interview with Robert Newman 2011: http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/pr/2011%20Dr.%20Robert%20Newman.pdf (PDF)

personal data
SURNAME Newman, Robert G.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doctor, scientist, health manager, and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH The hague
DATE OF DEATH August 1, 2018
Place of death New York City