Dr. John LaRosa Announces Retirement from Downstate

Sep 12, 2022

Last week, John C. LaRosa, M.D., officially retired from the Downstate faculty, where he served as Professor of Medicine and Public Health. Before joining the faculty full-time, Dr. LaRosa served as the 15th president of Downstate Health Sciences University (Downstate Medical Center at the time) from 1999 to 2012. His consequential leadership, vision, and positioning of Downstate as a leading academic medical center touched all aspects of this Institution. 

During his tenure as Downstate’s president, Dr. LaRosa oversaw the creation of a new School of Public Health, the opening of a new biotechnology incubator, and the launching of a larger biotech facility at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. He also obtained funding for the Public Health Academic Building, which houses our School of Public Health, state-of-the-art classrooms, conference rooms, research laboratories, and a simulation center. 

I was fortunate to have met John LaRosa when he served as Chancellor of the Medical Center at Tulane University in New Orleans from 1994 to 1999. He was instrumental in transforming Tulane into a research powerhouse and an academic medical center committed to community service. 

Throughout his career, Dr. LaRosa remained active in his research. He published 250 scientific articles and appeared as a cholesterol expert on the Today Show, Nightline, and numerous local news outlets. In addition, he has appeared in similar public affairs programs in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and throughout Europe.

He also served as the chair of the first National Cholesterol Conference, the American Heart Association’s Nutrition Committee, the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Endocrine and Metabolic Drugs, and a member of the American Heart Association’s Task Force on Risk Factors. 

Please join me in saluting Dr. John C. LaRosa for his stellar service to Downstate and the academe. We thank Dr. LaRosa, congratulate him on a remarkable career, and extend warm wishes for a great retirement life with his wife, Judie LaRosa, Ph.D., RN., who also just retired from Downstate.

Please click here for a message and a photo gallery about Dr. LaRosa.