Carola Blitzman Eisenberg (September 15, 1917 – March 11, 2021) was an Argentine-American psychiatrist who became the first woman to hold the position of Dean of Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1990, she was the dean of student affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She was a long-time lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS (formerly the Department of Social Medicine). She was also both a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights and an honorary psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
After retiring, she was involved in human rights work through Physicians for Human Rights, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and elsewhere. She turned 100 in September 2017[1] and died in Lincoln, Massachusetts, in March 2021 at the age of 103.[2]
She was licensed to practice psychiatry in Maryland (1955) and Massachusetts (1971). Eisenberg served on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Medical School from 1958 to 1967 before becoming a staff psychiatrist at the Student Health Service of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). From 1972 to 1978, she served as Dean of Students at MIT—first woman to occupy that position and the first to serve on the Academic Council, its highest academic governing authority. In 1978, after leaving MIT, she was appointed Dean for Student Affairs at Harvard Medical School, where she served until 1990. From 1990 to 1992, she was the director of the International Programs for Medical Students of the school.
Eisenberg was active in both the Cambridge-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement[7] and the Oral History Project of the Foundation for the History of Women in Medicine.[8]
Dr. Carola Eisenberg has been an Honorary Psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), for a very long time. (start date uncertain)
Boards
American Psychiatric Association (Life Fellow): Council on Emerging Issues, 1974–79; Committee on International Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists, 1991–94; Committee on Human Rights, 1994; vice chair, Council on International Affairs, 1995–98
American Psychiatric Association (Life Fellow): Council on Emerging Issues, 1974–79; Committee on International Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists, 1991–94; Committee on Human Rights, 1994; vice chair, Council on International Affairs, 1995–98
Eisenberg, C. Similarities and Differences Between Men and Women as Students. J. Amer. Med. Women's Assoc. 1981:35–36, 48–50.
Eisenberg, C. Honduras: Mental Health Awareness Changes a Community. World Health Forum, I (1,2):72–77, 1980.
Eisenberg, C. Caring. Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin, Vol. 55:16–17, 48–49, 1981 (summer).
Eisenberg, C. Women as Physicians. Journal of Medical Education, Vol. 58, 534–541, July 1983.
Eisenberg, C; Halperin, D; Hargreaves, A; Hubbard, F; Mittleberger, J; Palmisano, J; Stanbury, J (1983). "Health and human rights in El Salvador". The New England Journal of Medicine. 308 (17): 1028–9. doi:10.1056/NEJM198304283081713. PMID6835310.
Eisenberg, C. Mental Health and the College Student. Mental Health and the Schools, S. Leung (ed.) Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1985.
Eisenberg, C., Foreword to a Student-to-Student Guide to Medical School by R.W. Betcher, M.D. Little, Brown and Co., Boston 1985.
Eisenberg, C. The Stresses of Beginning Teaching. Journal of the Harvard-Danforth Center, 2:17, 1987 (January)
Geiger, J; Eisenberg, C; Gloyd, S; Quiroga, J; Schlenker, T; Scrimshaw, N; Devin, J (1989). "A new medical mission to El Salvador". The New England Journal of Medicine. 321 (16): 1136–40. doi:10.1056/NEJM198910193211629. PMID2797078.
Eisenberg, C (1989). "Medicine is no longer a man's profession. Or, when the men's club goes coed it's time to change the regs". The New England Journal of Medicine. 321 (22): 1542–4. doi:10.1056/NEJM198911303212210. PMID2811973.
Eisenberg, C. Matters of Faith: Students Follow Their Own Course. Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin, 63:20-23,1990.
Eisenberg, C. (1995) The Struggle To Get There, In: Women in Biomedical Careers: Dynamics of Change: Strategies for the 21st Century. Full report of the workshop. Washington, National Institute of Health. Office for Research on Women's Health. NIH publication, No.95-3565; 18–21.
Eisenberg, C. (1996). "Review of A New Prescription for Women's Health by Bernadine Healy". New England Journal of Medicine. 335: 1614–15. doi:10.1056/nejm199611213352119.
Eisenberg, C. Mental Health of People and the Effects of War on Children. One World, One Language: Paving the Way to Better Perspectives for Mental Health. Edited by JJ Lopez-Ibor, F. Lieh-Mak, HM Visotsky and M. Maj. Hogrefe & Huber Publishers, Seattle, 1999, pp. 88–93.
Eisenberg, C. (1999) Medicine and Human Rights. XI World Congress of Psychiatry Hamburg, Germany.
Meeting the Nation's Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Scientists: Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel (1994)
Institute of Medicine (IOM)
Hannibal K, Eisenberg C, Heggenhougen HK (2004) Integrating Human Rights into Medical Education.
Eisenberg, C. (2007) Women have improved the quality of medicine: a capsule history. In DeAngelis C (Editor), Women and Medicine: A Macy Foundation Conference. New York City: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, pages 37–40.
"Juvenile Delinquency"—United Nations Conference on the Prevention of Delinquency, Tokyo, Japan, 1963
"Psychiatric Disturbances in Adolescence"—Argentinian Congress of Child Psychiatry, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1969
"Psychiatric Services for College Students"—Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece, 1969
"Sexual Problems in Adolescence"—Ciba Foundation Conference, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, 1971
"Pediatric Psychiatry"—Tufts University Postgraduate Course, St. Maartens, 1971
"Epidemiology of Adolescent Psychiatric Disorder"—Venezuelan Congress of Psychiatry, Mérida, 1975
"Sexual Development"—Los Angeles County Pediatric Society, Palm Springs, California, 1975
"Student Health"—Presentation to Venezuelan Ministry of Health, Caracas, 1976
"Dual Career Marriages"—Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, 1977 (April)
"The Adjustment to College"—American Academy of Pediatrics, New York City, 1977 (November)
"College Life"—Presentations to Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alumni Clubs, Mexico, London, Paris, 1980
"Psychotherapy"—CIBA Foundation Conference, Glasgow University Medical School, 1978
"Reproductive Freedom: The Responsibility of the Medical Profession"—Annual Meeting of the *Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., San Diego, California, 1978
"Mental Health in Honduras: The Community Approach"—World Health Forum, Tegulcigalpa, Honduras, 1979
"Similarities and Differences Between Men and Women as Students"—Elizabeth Garrett Symposium at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1979
"Medical Student Life"—Presentation to Harvard Surgical Alumni Group—Chicago, Illinois, 1979
"The Response to Trauma"—CIBA Foundation Conference, Sheffield Medical School, UK, March 1980
Commencement Address, Harvard Medical School, June 1981
"Clinical Research Career for Women"—Chairwoman, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 1984
"Primary Health Care"—CIBA Foundation Conference, Nottingham Medical School, United Kingdom, November, 1984
"A Career in Medicine: Is It Still Worth It?"—A.O.A. Lecture, Case Western Reserve University, April 1986
Commencement Speech—Albert Einstein College of Medicine, May 1987
"Medicine and Dental Medicine as Vocations of Service to Others"—Convocation, The University of Connecticut School of Medicine, August, 1987
Commencement Speech—University of Vermont College of Medicine, May, 1988
"College Mental Health"—Massachusetts General Hospital, Postgraduate Course, April 1989
"The Pleasures of Medicine"—invited address, University of Rochester, March, 1990
Symposium on Women in Medicine—invited address, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, April, 1991
Radcliffe Intellectual Renewal Conference: Protecting Human Rights: Whose Job Is It? Endicott Peabody Conference Center, June 15, 2001
Macy Conference on Psychiatry. Toronto, Canada. October 2001
Jonathan Mann Lecture, University of New Mexico School of Mexico, December 2001
Human Rights and the Physician, University of Rochester School of Medicine, April 2002
Rights and Responsibilities of Physicians, Bioethics Panel, 2004 Conference on International Health, MIT Hippocratic Society, Cambridge, MA, April 24–25, 2004.