Gangarosa honored with named department
Unveiling the new department name (l-r): Paige Tolbert, Bill Foege, Jim Curran, Rose and Gene Gangarosa
In honor of the leadership and philanthropy of Dr. Eugene Gangarosa and his wife, Rose, the Department of Environmental Health has been named the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health. This is the second department within Rollins to be named, following the Hubert Department of Global Health.
Gangarosa is one of the school’s founding fathers. He began teaching in Emory’s Master of Community Health program (the precursor of the MPH program) in 1975 when it was first established. As director of the MPH program from 1983 to1990, he paved the way for the founding of Emory’s first new school in 72 years in 1990. Gangarosa continues to teach the occasional class at Rollins in his role as emeritus professor and is actively involved with the Center for Global Safe WASH, which he founded.
During his service in World War II, Gangarosa worked to rebuild water and sanitation systems in Italy. His interest in medicine and enteric pathogens took him to Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where his intestinal biopsy studies are credited with the widespread adoption of rehydration therapy, which has dramatically influenced the standard operating procedure for treating cholera and saves approximately 1 million children a year. His various public health roles have included serving as director of the University of Maryland’s Pakistan Medical Research Center, working in various leadership positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and serving as dean of public health at the American University of Beirut.
Since coming to Rollins, Gangarosa and his wife have been generous supporters of the school. They established the school’s first global field experience fund to give students much-needed experience in international settings. They have endowed three distinguished professorships. The first two are the Eugene J. Gangarosa Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation held by Christine Moe and the Rose Salamone Gangarosa Chair in Sanitation and Water held by Tom Clasen. Their third endowed distinguished professorship will be held by the next chair of the department following the recent retirement of Dr. Paige Tolbert, O. Wayne Rollins Chair of Environmental Health.
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Emory public health department to be named after leader in safe water and sanitation (Feb. 2020)
The heart of public health: Eugene Gangarosa (Jan. 2014)
