Dr. Rafael Lantigua

Rafael Lantigua, M.D. is the Director, Office of Community Service Programs; Associate Dean for Community Service and Professor of Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Co-Director, Community Engagement Core Resource. Since coming to Columbia in 1980, he has a distinguished record of working to improve the health of aging minorities. He was the driving force behind CALME, the Columbia Center for the Active Life of Minority Elders, which supported research to reduce health disparities affecting minority elders and established an important bridge between Columbia researchers and the neighboring community. Dr. Lantigua also helped start the Columbia Center for the Health of Urban Minorities to shift community based-research from studies for the community to studies with the community. He is currently a primary care physician and clinician educator at the Associates in Internal Medicine (AIM) Clinic at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. 

Dr. Lantigua has published more than 120 medical articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has received numerous commendations including the Office of the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, the City Council of New York, the New York City State Senate, the U.S. Congress, and the New York City Comptroller, among others. In 2018, he was the first recipient of the Premio Internacional al Emigrante Dominicano Sr. Oscar De La Renta, a prestigious award established by the government of the Dominican Republic to recognize contributions by notable Dominicans living outside their homeland.

Citation: New York Presbyterian website