Passing of a school founder

Marine, along with his colleague Dr. Thomas F. Sellers, conceived of and created the master of community health program within the Emory School of Medicine that would grow to become the Rollins School of Public Health. 

Marine joined the school of medicine faculty in 1963, after serving as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He worked with the dean of the medical school as well as colleagues at the CDC, the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Georgia State University, and throughout Emory to formulate and flesh out his plan to launch a new public health program. Marine served as the program’s first director from 1974 to 1975, and he and taught the first measurement sciences course.

Marine left Emory to join the University of Colorado to create and teach the introduction to clinical medicine course. He helped the school of medicine create a master’s program focused on community health, then tackled the challenge of creating the preventive medicine residency in collaboration with the state’s public health leadership. His efforts were complimented by colleague and wife Susan Marine, also on faculty at the school of medicine for several years.

“Emory likely would not have a school of public health if not for the efforts of Bill Marine,” says Dean James Curran. “We will always be indebted to him for his foresight and determination.