Faculty Highlight – Dr. Rosa Gofin was born in Uruguay, where she pursued her studies in medicine. She moved to Israel, where she earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree as part of a specialization in public health in the International Program of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She studied with Dr. Sidney Kark, the pioneer in the development of the Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC) approach. Through Dr. Kark’s teachings and the academic environment of the program, Dr. Gofin’s understanding of diversity, culture and health, social justice, and equity became an integral part of her learning process, and that understanding continues to inform her approach to public health.

Dr. Gofin was in charge of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Service in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine of Hebrew University and Hadassah. Her duties included teaching MPH students; conducting research; and caring for pregnant women and children, and providing school health care in the Hadassah Community Health Center in Jerusalem. The development, performance, and evaluation of COPC programs were also an integral part of the service that Dr. Gofin provided.

Dr. Gofin’s research is related to the health of mothers and children, and to the evaluation of MCH and school health services and COPC programs. In addition, Dr. Gofin pioneered the study of unintentional injuries and violence in children and youth in Israel. Dr. Gofin has more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, chapters in books, and other publications. She is the author, with Dr. Jaime Gofin, of Essentials of Global Community Health (Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2011). She is also a reviewer on leading journals in public health.

Dr. Gofin has extensive experience in curriculum development for target audiences in academic, cultural, and health systems environments. She has organized and carried out capacity-building activities for health professionals in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Dr. Gofin has been a temporary advisor for the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, and a consultant to the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Dr. Gofin joined the UNMC College of Public Health in May 2010. She led a team of professionals interested in MCH in the development of a new MPH concentration in MCH, which started in the fall of 2011. She teaches in two of the courses in the concentration (Introduction to MCH and Advanced MCH). She also participated in the development of an MPH concentration in COPC, which also started in the fall of 2011.

Dr. Gofin says that she feels privileged to be in the COPH, a stimulating and academically strong place, and to live in Omaha, in her own words, “a place to discover.”

Rosa Gofin, MD, MPH, is a professor in the UNMC COPH Department of Health Promotion, Social and Behavioral Health.