ALUMNI PROFILE R O B E RT L . J O H N S O N , M D , FA A P ’ 7 2
A New Dean, A New Beginning BY JILL SPOTZ
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P U L S E
SUMMER
2011
ow do you teach teenagers the critical skills necessary to become successful, thriving adults? This is a question parents can find themselves asking as they nurture a brooding, hormonal teenager through what can be difficult, volatile times. But what about inner-city, African-American teens, particularly boys, who face extraordinary challenges and obstacles to success? How do you convince them to make the right decisions? Robert L. Johnson, MD, FAAP, recently appointed The Sharon and Joseph L. Muscarelle Endowed Dean of New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), has the answers. Johnson, who has been interim dean since 2005 and is a 1972 graduate of NJMS, loves teenagers. For more than four decades he has been treating and mentoring teens enabling them to navigate the labyrinth of obstacles presented by the inner city with its drugs, sexually-transmitted diseases, emotional pressures and influences. Board-certified in pediatrics, Johnson has focused on adolescent medicine from the beginning of his career. “The point at which I knew I wanted to go into pediatrics is one of my favorite memories from medical school,” he recalls. A longtime associate, Elena Perez, MD, was pivotal. “At the end of my second year I went to work at Saint Michael’s Medical Center as a clinical clerk. I was prepared to be assigned to an internal medicine floor but Elena, who worked at Saint Michael’s at the time, said, ‘I think you should go to pediatrics!’ I loved it. Elena is still a close friend and colleague and at many points in my career we have worked together to build programs for adolescents and those with HIV.” The decision to focus on adolescents in particular was made over the kind of meal teens love: pizza. He recalls the moment as if it were yesterday, “I was having lunch with classmates at Tingerlings Pizza on Bloomfield Avenue when all of a sudden it hit me. I wanted a career in adolescent medicine. In retrospect, I think I always enjoyed working with teens. But while in medical school I was preparing to train in pediatric cardiology. I had already signed an agree-
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ANDREW HANENBERG
