Robert L. Johnson

Robert L. Johnson, MD, FAAP was appointed The Sharon and Joseph L. Muscarelle Endowed Dean of New Jersey Medical School, a unit of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on March 16, 2011, becoming the eighth Dean of the State’s oldest medical school. He served as Interim Dean from 2005 until his appointment to the deanship in 2011. Prior to assuming the interim deanship, Dr. Johnson served as Professor and Chair of Pediatrics. He continues to serve as Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine.

Dr. Johnson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He currently chairs the Governor’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and Related Blood Borne Pathogens and the Newark Ryan White Planning Council. He serves as a member of the Community Prevention Task Force of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is a member of the Board of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies of Science.

Previously, Dr. Johnson served as the President of the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners; as the Chair of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Council on Graduate Medical Education; and as a member of the National Council of the National Institute of Mental Health; the NIH AIDS Research Council; the Institute of Medicine, Health Care Services Board, and the Board of Law and Justice for the National Academy of Science.

Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on adolescent physical and mental health, adolescent HIV, adolescent violence, adolescent fatherhood and risk prevention/reduction programs with specific emphasis on substance and alcohol abuse, sexuality and sexual dysfunction, male sexual abuse, suicide and AIDS.

Dr. Johnson received his BA from Alfred University in 1968 and his MD from the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – now Rutgers New Jersey Medical School – in 1972. Dr. Johnson is a well-recognized spokesperson for adolescent men and their issues. He regularly addresses many local, state, national and international audiences and frequently appears on television and radio. Dr. Johnson is widely published and maintains an active schedule of teaching, conducting research and treating adolescent patients at New Jersey Medical School.

Dr. Johnson chairs the Board of Deacons at Union Baptist Church in Orange, NJ, and is married to Maxine Johnson, a lifelong educator. He is the author of The Race Trap, a Harper Collins Business Book which addresses the pitfalls commonly encountered in communications across the racial divide, and Strength for Their Journey, a guide for parents of African-American teens, published by Doubleday.