Oral history interview with Robert Newman, 1981

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Name: Newman, Robert (Interviewee); Courtwright, David T., 1952- (Interviewer); Joseph, Herman, 1931- (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Robert Newman, 1981
Other Titles: Reminiscences of Robert Newman, 1981; Oral history of Robert Newman, 1981
Abstract: In 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 sel ection 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
Collection Name: Addicts Who Survived oral history collection
Subjects: Methadone maintenance--History--20th century.--United States; Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States; Drug addicts--United States; Drug control--History--20th century.--United States; Therapeutic communities; NIMBY syndrome; Newman, Robert; Dole, Vincent P. (Vincent Paul) 1913-2006; Robinson, Marie Nyswander, 1919-1986; New York (N.Y.). Addiction Services Agency
Format: oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 1981

Physical Description: 61 pages
Note (Biographical): Robert 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 f or 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
Note: Interviewed on David Courtwright and Herman Joseph on July 24 and July 30, 1981
Note (Provenance): David Courtwright, Herman Joseph, and Don Des Jarlais, Gift, 1988
Language: English
Library Location: Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Catalog Record: 11874930
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-gpz4-w076
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.