The Center for the History of Medicine is pleased to announce that the Robert C. Moellering papers are now open to research!
Robert “Bob” C. Moellering, Jr. (1926-2014) was Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC, now Beth Israel Lahey Health). He also held the Shields-Warren Mallinckrodt Professorship and the Hermann Blumgart Professorship of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). After receiving his M.D. from HMS in 1962, Moellering spent several years at Massachusetts General Hospital (now Mass General Brigham). He also joined the faculty of HMS in 1970. In 1981, he was appointed as Shields Warren-Mallinckrodt Professor of Medical Research at HMS. That year he also joined New England Deaconess Hospital (NEDH, now part of Beth Israel Lahey Health) as Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine. He was in that role during NEDH’s merger with Beth Israel Hospital in 1996. He retired from his position as Chair in 2005.
Moellering’s research focused on antimicrobial agents, antimicrobial resistance, and enterococcal infections (infections caused by a type of bacteria in the genus Enterococcus. During his career, he authored or co-authored more than 400 journal articles. He served on advisory boards or as a consultant to more than 90 pharmaceutical companies. Some of the awards he received during his career include: the Hoechst-Roussel Award of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Society for Microbiology (1994); the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (2006); and the Alexander Fleming Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2008).
The Robert C. Moellering papers, 1953-2014 (inclusive) are the product of Moellering’s career as a microbiologist, infectious disease specialist, and hospital administrator. The papers consist of professional and administrative records from NEDH, HMS, and BIDMC; consulting records; professional service records; lectures and presentations; writings; research records; grant records; and collected publications.
For more about Robert C. Moellering and the collection, please view the collection finding aid.