Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Robert Newman, 1981Biographical NoteRobert Newman was born in 1937 in the Hague, Holland. His family moved to Mount Vernon, New York in 1939, and Newman grew up in the New York metropolitan area. He attended New York University for his undergraduate degree, and University of Rochester for his medical doctorate degree. He then completed two years of postgraduate training in surgery. Newman then served in the Air Force as a surgeon for two years in Japan. After returning to New York City, he did a residency in public health with the city health department, then completed a masters degree in public health at University of California, Berkeley. He then became the director of the National Nutrition Survey. In 1970, Newman was chosen to lead the Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program of New York City. He also served as president of Beth Israel Medical Center. He passed away in 2018. Robert Newman was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived
Scope and ContentsIn this interview, Robert Newman discusses his role in the creation of New York City’s Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program. He starts the interview discussing his family history and his medical studies. He discusses being educated on the possibility of methadone maintenance treatment by Herman Joseph, Dr. Marie Nyswander, and Dr. Vincent Dole. He discusses the circumstances which led to his selection as leader of the program by Mayor John Lindsay’s Health Services Administrator, Gordon Chase. He describes opposition to the methadone treatment program by various groups including: therapeutic communities, the Addiction Services Agency, and neighborhoods in which clinics were being built. Newman discusses at length the effects of the strict federal regulations imposed on methadone maintenance in 1973
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
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