Legends, Sorcerers, and Enchanted Lizards

Dr. Pascal James Imperato received his MD degree from the State University of New York, and then completed a residency in internal medicine at Long Island College Hospital. He was awarded the Glorney-Raisbeck Fellowship of the New York Academy of Medicine, and served his fellowship at the International Center for Medical Research and Training located at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, and at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, from where he received his MPH&TM degree. He then served for six years as a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in West Africa, where he directed mass immunization campaigns against smallpox, measles, yellow fever, cholera, and meningococcal meningitis. The U.S. Department of State awarded him its Meritorious Honor Award and Medal for this work. He returned to the United States and worked for the New York City Department of Health, as Director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control and Principal Epidemiologist, First Deputy Commissioner of Health and Director of the department’s Residency Training Program in Public Health, and as Commissioner of Health and Chair of the Board of Directors of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. He was also Chair of the New York State Board for Medicine, and for several years was a member of the Fulbright Screening Committee for Africa. He also served for seven years as editor of the New York State Journal of Medicine, now edits the Journal of Community Health, and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and The Pharos. Dr. Imperato has served on many medical school committees and task forces. He served two 4-year terms as Chair of the Committee on Educational Policy and Curriculum (Curriculum Committee), chaired the Second Year Promotions Committee for twelve years, and was Chair of the Special Working Group on the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education Relationship. He also served as course director for the required Second Year Course in Preventive Medicine and Community Health from 1978 to 1998. Since 1980, he has served as course director for the program’s international health elective, “Health Care in Developing Countries.” His research in recent years has focused on clinical outcomes and health care quality improvement. In 1999, Dr. Imperato received the New York City Department of Health’s Public Health Achievement Award, and was made a Master of the American College of Physicians. In 2003, he was awarded the James D. Bruce Memorial Award for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine by the American College of Physicians, and in 2008, the Haven Emerson Award of the Public Health Association of New York City for distinguished contributions to public health in New York City. He became Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the State University of New York. He is now Distinguished Service Professor and Dean of the School of Public Health at SUNY, and also the Interim Chair for the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology.