Alan Berkman

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Alan Berkman
Berkman at an ACT UP rally in 2002
Born(1945-09-04)4 September 1945
Brooklyn, New York City, US
Died5 June 2009(2009-06-05) (aged 63)
Manhattan, New York City, US
EducationCornell University (1967) Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (1971)
Occupation(s)doctor, activist
EmployerColumbia University Mailman School of Public Health (2003-2009)
Organization(s)Students for a Democratic Society, Weather Underground, Health GAP
Criminal chargesarmed robbery and possession of explosives
Criminal penalty10 year sentence
Criminal statusReleased on parole in 1992 after serving 8 years
SpouseBarbara Zeller (m. 1975)
Children2

Alan Berkman (September 4, 1945 – June 5, 2009) was an American

Students for a Democratic Society and Weather Underground
who went to prison for his involvement in a number of robberies staged by the organizations and their offshoots. Released after eight years in prison for armed robbery and explosives possession, Berkman provided medical care to the homeless and founded Health GAP to help provide AIDS pharmaceuticals to some of the world's poorest nations.

Early life and education

Berkman was born in

Eagle Scout who graduated as the salutatorian of his high school class. He earned his undergraduate degree at Cornell University, graduating as an honor student in 1967. Berkman completed his medical training at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1971.[1]

His politics and practice of medicine often overlapped, including his treatment of prisoners after the September 1971

Wounded Knee incident in 1973.[4][5][6]

Brinks robbery and life on the run

The

Abraham Lincoln assassination.[4][7]

On the run, Berkman took part in the gunpoint robbery of a

Resistance Conspiracy
and convicted for his participation in the supermarket robbery, the proceeds of which, prosecutors alleged, had been used to buy the dynamite.

Prison

Berkman served eight years of a 10-year sentence, primarily in solitary confinement.[1][4] Diagnosed with Hodgkin's in 1985, Berkman experienced delays in treatment and almost died twice due to the subpar prison healthcare system.[4][8][9] Berkman appeared on 60 Minutes to discuss his experiences.[4] In his 1991 testimony before the United States Congress, Berkman stated: "Security concerns are the context in which prison medicine is practiced, but it is disastrous if they become the overwhelming content."[8] He later stated in an interview: "When you're in prison, your care is under the general supervision of people who don't much care if you live or die and that's a very hard reality."[3]

HIV/AIDS advocacy and research

After his release on parole in 1992, Berkman worked as a doctor at a South Bronx clinic for parolees who use drugs.[4] In 1995, Berkman returned to Columbia University as a postdoctoral research fellow and treated homeless men living with HIV/AIDS and mental illness.[1] That year he published a paper criticizing the prison health care system.[10][11]

In the late 1990s, Berkman did HIV/AIDS research in South Africa.[1]

Upon his return to New York, Berkman co-founded Health Global Access Project (Health GAP), in collaboration with

antiretroviral drugs in the poorest parts of the world. Through such efforts as lobbying to allow foreign governments to impose compulsory licenses to allow local manufacture of medications without the imposition of U.S. trade tariffs, costs for a regimen of AIDS medications that had cost $15,000 annually in the late 1990s had been cut to $150 per year by the time of his death.[1]

In 2001, Berkman published a paper advocating that the global efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic should include both treatment and prevention.[11][14]

In 2003, Berkman became an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology and sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, later becoming vice chair of the Department of Epidemiology.[15][1][16]

Death

Over the last 20 years of his life, he faced recurring cancer.[1] A resident of Manhattan, Berkman died there, aged 63, from lymphoma on June 5, 2009. He was survived by his wife, Dr. Barbara Zeller, as well as two daughters and a grandson.[1] His papers are archived at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.[15]

In 2020, Berkman's friend, Susan M. Reverby, published Co-Conspirator for Justice: The Revolutionary Life of Dr. Alan Berkman.[17]

Selected works

Berkman A. Prison health: the breaking point. Am J Public Health. 1995 Dec;85(12):1616-8. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.12.1616. PMID: 7503333; PMCID: PMC1615745.

Berkman A. Confronting global AIDS: prevention and treatment. Am J Public Health. 2001 Sep;91(9):1348-9. doi: 10.2105/ajph.91.9.1348. PMID: 11527751; PMCID: PMC1446774.

Berkman A, Garcia J, Muñoz-Laboy M, Paiva V, Parker R. A critical analysis of the Brazilian response to HIV/AIDS: lessons learned for controlling and mitigating the epidemic in developing countries. Am J Public Health. 2005 Jul;95(7):1162-72. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.054593. Epub 2005 Jun 2. PMID: 15933232; PMCID: PMC1449335.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hevesi, Dennis (2009-06-14). "Alan Berkman, 63, Activist Doctor, Dies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-01-30.
  2. ISBN 978-1-4696-5626-7
    .
  3. ^ a b Murphy, Gillian (2002-11-01). "In Search of Solidarity". TheBody Pro. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoffman, Jan (1994-01-10). "Healing on Parole; Doctor and Ex-Prisoner, He Treats Others on Probation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-06-23.
  5. ^
    ISSN 0959-8138
    .
  6. ^ "STORY BEHIND THE MYSTERY MAN OF THE BRINK'S JOB". Chicago Tribune. 1986-01-02. Archived from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
  7. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived
    from the original on 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
  8. ^
    PMID 30300566
    .
  9. ^ "THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH GLOBAL REPORT ON PRISONS" (PDF). Human Rights Watch. 1993.
  10. PMID 7503333
    .
  11. ^
    PMC 8101598
    .
  12. ^ "ACT UP Accomplishments and Partial Chronology". ACT UP NY. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
  13. ^ "We wouldn't be here without ACT UP". Health GAP (Global Access Project). Retrieved 2024-10-02.
  14. PMID 11527751
    .
  15. ^ a b "Alan Berkman papers | Archives & Special Collections". www.library-archives.cumc.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
  16. ^ Reverby 2020, pp. 282, 289
  17. ISSN 2325-6893
    .
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