Robert A. Schwartz

Robert A. Schwartz, MD, MPH, DSc (Hon), President of the World Health Academy, is in his third decade as Professor and Head of Dermatology at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is also Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Pathology at Rutgers University; serves on the Rutgers University Board of Trustees; and is the Chairman of the university-wide Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee.

Prof. Schwartz has published well over 300 book chapters, 550 articles, and 200 abstracts and other publications. He has authored or coauthored a total of 15 books and monographs, most notably Skin Cancer: Recognition and Management, with its second edition published by Wiley-Blackwell. Prof. Schwartz first described florid cutaneous papillomatosis, also known as the Schwartz-Burgess syndrome, and acral acanthosis nigricans (acral acanthotic anomaly). In 1981 Prof. Schwartz led one of the three groups that first described AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma (KS-AIDS). He has written 65 publications on Kaposi’s sarcoma alone, including a breakthrough therapy for Kaposi's sarcoma published in Cancer as well as original descriptions of Kaposi's sarcoma subtypes.

He established New Jersey's first dermatology residency program in 1983. Prof. Schwartz has been active at the National Institutes of Health since 2004, presently serving on the Health Services Organization and Delivery Study Section. Prof. Schwartz was the Faculty President of the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School for two terms and the Co-chair of the Rutgers 250 Anniversary Committee. Prof. Schwartz has been part of the Board of Governors University Relations Committee.

Prof. Schwartz is a past President of the Dermatology Section of the New York Academy of Medicine, has began a third five-year term on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Dermatology, and is a member of numerous editorial boards. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Dermatology. He is also one of a handful of specialists elected to the American Dermatologic Association. Prof. Schwartz has been elected as an honorary member of national dermatologic societies of more than 20 countries including Germany, Italy, Poland, India, Korea, Czech Republic, Kuwait, Latvia, and Jordan.

Prof. Schwartz's contributions to medicine have brought him numerous honors, including the title of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, at the Tbilisi Medical Academy. The President of China Medical University bestowed the title of Honorary Professor upon Prof. Schwartz in a formal ceremony in Shenyang, China in 2012. In 2016, he was named an Honorary Professor at the Sree Balaji Medical College of India’s Bharath University. Prof. Schwartz was awarded the Academia Medica Wratislaviensis Polonia Medal by the Rector of the Wroclaw Medical University in 2007. Among many other awards, Prof. Schwartz received, with Prof. Robert Gallo, the Key to the City of Catania, Italy.

Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Prof. Schwartz earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, his Masters of Public Health in Health Administration and Planning from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and his Doctor of Medicine from the New York Medical College. He completed a dermatology residency at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He holds board certification in dermatology and in diagnostic and laboratory immunology.