Gabor Kelen, director of the Department of Emergency Medicine and professor of emergency medicine, worked closely with the dean on the institution’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic: “He made sure that we paid particular attention to those most easily overlooked among staff and the local community, to give as unfettered access to vaccine and other care as possible. No decision was ever made on financial considerations — it was always based on consideration of people and science.”
“Paul’s breadth of knowledge is extraordinary. He is an outside-the-box thinker who frequently comes up with a creative solution that no one else thought of.” — Roy Ziegelstein, vice dean for education, Sarah Miller Coulson and Frank L. Coulson Jr. Professor of Medicine, Mary Wallace Stanton Professor of Education
“No matter how challenging or complex the decision, Paul always had a clear path to the decision: doing what’s best for patients.” — Allen Kachalia, senior vice president of patient safety and quality for Johns Hopkins Medicine and director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality
Scott Berkowitz, chief population health officer and vice president of population health, remembers Rothman’s commitment to serving patients in the neighborhoods near the hospital: “From his very first days, it was very clear that he believed we have an obligation to partner with and support our Baltimore community to improve care while reducing health disparities.”
Carolyn Carpenter, president, National Capital Region, recalls watching Rothman interact with front-line practitioners at Suburban Hospital: “What struck me was his skill as a natural teacher. Shortly after inquiring how each team member was doing, he immediately began to instruct the teams on data and findings regarding COVID. You could see him get energized as questions were asked and he led an exchange.”
Richard Bennett, president, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, lists ways Rothman’s decade-long leadership helped expand and modernize the Bayview campus: “Highlights were the opening of a new 45,000-square foot expansion of our emergency department, the opening of the thoracic cancer program as part of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Bayview in a state of the art $30 million building, and the development of the 75,000-square foot 5500 Building for our community psychiatry programs. Each project allowed Johns Hopkins to serve patients better while supporting our important teaching and research missions.”
William Baumgartner, who retired in 2018 as senior vice president of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians and the Vincent L. Gott Professor of Cardiac Surgery, praises Rothman’s determination to improve staff members’ well-being. “He had returned from a meeting at the National Academy of Medicine, where he listened to a presentation on physician burnout, and recognized that this serious issue affected not only physicians but all health care providers. He asked me and Janice Clements [vice dean for faculty] to lead a committee for the purpose of developing an office of well-being.”
