Dr. Kenneth Rothman is a preeminent epidemiologist whose scholarly contributions have fundamentally shaped modern epidemiological methodology and practice. He currently serves as Professor of Epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health and Distinguished Fellow Emeritus at RTI International where he previously held the position of Vice President for Epidemiologic Research at RTI Health Solutions. Dr. Rothman earned his Dr.P.H. and M.P.H. degrees from the Harvard School of Public Health and his D.M.D. degree from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine establishing a multifaceted academic foundation that bridged clinical and population health perspectives. With over 48 years of professional experience in epidemiologic research he has maintained a distinguished career bridging theoretical methodology with practical applications across diverse health domains. His early academic appointments and research trajectory positioned him as a transformative figure in the systematic approach to epidemiological study design and interpretation.
Dr. Rothman's seminal contributions include authoring two foundational textbooks Modern Epidemiology and Epidemiology an Introduction which have educated generations of epidemiologists worldwide and established rigorous standards for the field. In 1990 he founded the journal Epidemiology serving as its editor until 2001 and creating a premier publication venue that significantly advanced methodological discourse in public health research. His influential research spans multiple critical areas including the teratogenic effects of vitamin A pharmaceutical product safety and environmental causes of disease with particular attention to methodological rigor in studying cancer clusters. His controversial 1990 article challenging conventional approaches to cancer cluster investigations stimulated vital debates that refined epidemiological practice and highlighted the importance of methodological precision over anecdotal observations. These contributions have cemented his reputation as a meticulous scholar whose work provides essential tools for distinguishing causal relationships from spurious associations in population health research.
Dr. Rothman's exceptional career has been recognized with numerous prestigious honors including the American Public Health Association's Abraham Lilienfeld Award in 2002 for excellence in epidemiology teaching and the Society for Epidemiologic Research Career Accomplishment Award in 2017. In 2002 the journal Epidemiology appropriately renamed its annual prize the Kenneth Rothman Epidemiology Prize a testament to his enduring influence on the discipline. He has been honored as a Fellow of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology and as an honorary fellow of the American College of Epidemiology while receiving an honorary MD degree from the University of Aarhus Denmark in 2017. His methodological frameworks continue to guide contemporary epidemiological practice as researchers worldwide apply his principles to address emerging public health challenges from environmental exposures to pharmaceutical safety. Dr. Rothman remains an active intellectual force whose rigorous approach to evidence continues to shape how epidemiologists conceptualize study design causal inference and the interpretation of population health data.
