Robert Steven Bernstein, MD

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Get to know Preventive Medicine Specialist and CDC Disease Detective, Dr. Robert Steven Bernstein.

A performance-driven public health physician, Dr. Bernstein has more than 30 years of successful professional experience that includes leadership, management, performance evaluation, teaching, and mentoring skills in preventive medicine, public health, applied epidemiology, and surveillance, investigation, and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases and environmental & occupational safety and health problems. 

Since April of 1987, he has been serving as an Adjunct Associate Professor within the Hubert Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health – Emory University, and since January 2022 he serves remotely as a Professorial Lecturer on Infectious Disease Prevention and Control for the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

His areas of interest include epidemiology, evaluation, health management, health services research, public health leadership, and public health preparedness and response. 

Educated in the United States, Dr. Bernstein graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965. He then went on to earn his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University in 1971, his NIH postdoctoral fellowship in Pharmacology at the Yale University School of Medicine in 1973, and his Medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in 1977.

Furthering his training, he performed the Masters in Public Health portion of his residency in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1978-1979, and completed an additional portion of his residency as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (“EIS”) Medical Officer (1979-1981) and Senior Epidemiologist Program Officer (1981-2002) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As a testament to his success, the doctor is board-certified in Public Health & General Preventive Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine which is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties that issues “certificates of special knowledge” in the specialty of Preventive Medicine.

Throughout his extensive career, Dr. Bernstein has had highly successful high-profile assignments that included briefings for the CDC Director, the US President, the FEMA Director, and assistance for other top leaders of US and international government organizations, universities, and non-government community-based and faith-based partners, as well as with bilateral agencies (USAID and CDC), multilateral agencies (WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, ADB, and the World Bank), non-government agencies (Doctors Without Borders), and private sector agencies (Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd, Wyeth and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, and Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals).

In addition to being a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, he is a member of the American Evaluation Association, the American Public Health Association, the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research, and CDC EIS Alumni Association.

Preventive healthcare consists of measures taken for the purposes of protecting, promoting, and maintaining health and well-being through good health and safety practices for preventing the occurrence, distribution, and disparities in illnesses, injuries, and premature death in defined populations.

On a more personal note, Dr. Bernstein lives in Chico, California with his 17-year-old triplets, and he speaks English, Indonesian, and Malaysian.

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