The Fund supports networks of state health policy decision makers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund supports two state leadership programs for legislative and executive branch state government officials committed to improving population health.
The Fund identifies and shares policy ideas and analysis to advance state health leadership, strong primary care, and sustainable health care costs.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. And read the latest posts from our staff and guest authors.
The Fund publishes The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to health policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is is a foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.
June 5, 2026
News Article
Alan B. Cohen
Tara Strome
Jun 3, 2026
Jun 2, 2026
May 19, 2026
Back to News Articles
It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of David Rosner, an esteemed member of The Milbank Quarterly’s Editorial Advisory Board and a long-time contributor and friend of the Milbank Memorial Fund.
Many have written about David’s contributions as a leading historian of public health. As a Professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, David dedicated his career to uncovering the human impact of environmental and occupational harms and played a large role in developing a field of occupational and environmental history that has helped shaped public understanding of the health consequences of industrial production.
The Milbank Memorial Fund was proud to copublish with the UC Press two books that David coauthored with his long-time collaborator Gerald Markowitz. Deceit and Denial, published in 2002, details attempts by the chemical and lead industries to deceive the American public about the harms of their products to workers, consumers, and the public through groundbreaking historical research that included interviews and unprecedented access to industry documents. After publication, the Milbank Memorial Fund, UC Press, and peer reviewers of the manuscript were subpoenaed by lawyers for the chemical companies in an attempt to discredit the peer review process and create doubt about the accuracy of the book—one of many attacks on his work from industry that David faced. Lead Wars, published in 2013, examines the history of lead poisoning and highlights the dilemmas public health agencies face today in prevention of chronic illness linked to low levels of toxic lead exposure.
David also was a prolific Milbank Quarterly opinion contributor, with more than two dozen pieces published over the past decade on topics such as the role of citizen scientists in the Flint water crisis, the abundance of toxic chemicals in our everyday lives, and the use of legal action to abate lead paint hazards. His most recent piece, published in April of this year, documented how industry has manipulated institutions of science and medicine.
While David’s legacy lives on through the students he mentored and the lasting changes he brought to public health, we will miss his important and unique voice in our journal’s pages.
