Alvin Tarlov ’51

Alvin Tarlov ’51, M.D., described by colleagues as “among the most influential physician-scholars in U.S. healthcare and health policy in the 20th and 21st centuries,” died on May 27, 2023. Al was further praised as “a visionary leader who recognized the importance of general medicine in an academic setting. He transformed general medicine and the care and treatment of our patients. His innovative thinking influenced institutions across the country and continues shaping future generations of physicians.” At Dartmouth Al financed his undergraduate education by working two full-time jobs: as a laborer building the Wilder Dam and as a night watchman at the Medical Center. He received his medical degree from the Harvard Medical School. Al’s career in medicine illustrates his wide-ranging interests and impact. He was chair of the University of Chicago Department of Medicine and faculty member of its committee on social thought; chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services graduate medical education national advisory committee; president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; executive director of the New England Medical Center Health Institute; professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Tufts University School of Medicine; and senior fellow in health policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. He also served on the board of overseers of the Dartmouth Medical School. A lover of the outdoors, he delighted in trout fishing during his retirement years in Arizona.