“My classmates drew from so many fields and backgrounds, it was a very rich social space with wonderful opportunities for friendships and networking.”

The return of Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez to the Rockefeller Foundation as a managing director last spring represents a coming together of medicine and public health. Dr. Pablos-Mendez - who received his medical degree from Mexico's University of Guadalajara, and his master's in public health from the Mailman School - also serves as an associate professor of clinical medicine and public health at the Mailman School where he has taught in the department of epidemiology.

As he completed a fellowship in general internal medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital Dr. Pablos-Mendez became focused on honing his research skills. "I saw an MPH in epidemiology as a way to strengthen my skills in research," he says. "At the time, evidence-based medicine was emerging as a strong movement and to me, clinical epidemiology was a way to help strengthen that approach." Those skills proved pivotal in his work on multi drug-resistant tuberculosis in New York City and at the World Health Organization.

Dr. Pablos-Mendez has a tremendous regard for both the faculty and students at the Mailman School. "So many of the faculty at the School are so devoted to seeking the truth and inspiring students. I have always been moved by the human caliber of the faculty," he says. "And because my classmates drew from so many fields and backgrounds, it was a very rich social space with wonderful opportunities for friendships and networking."

As Dr. Pablos-Mendez moves into his role as managing director at the Rockefeller Foundation, he is focusing on larger global health issues. His goals include leveraging e-Health to meet the needs of the poor, exploring the role of the private sector in health, and redefining new professional competencies that take into account how public health has evolved over the last century in the developing world.

Dr. Pablos-Mendez adds: "The Mailman School is a well-established leader in many of these pressing issues, and I hope that we can collaborate with it and other partners around the world as these initiatives take off."