Division of Tuberculosis Control, Refugee
and Migrant Health
Dr. David Glasser
(1933-1989)
 David
M. Glasser, MD, MPH, was a clinical pioneer dedicated to
improving public health. His main contributions were his
work in control of tuberculosis, HIV infection and sexually
transmitted diseases.
As a young medical graduate, he served in Vietnam with
the U.S. Army Medical Corps and the Vietnamese government.
While in Vietnam, he used money smuggled to him in hollowed
out books to transform a deteriorating TB hospital to
an effective and efficient TB treatment hospital.
In 1973, he began serving with the Baltimore City Health
Department as the Director of the Bureau of Disease Control.
At that time, the city had the highest per capita rate
of tuberculosis in the nation. He managed this challenge
on many fronts. He successfully passed City Council ordinances
which overhauled the system for reporting of TB cases,
including a requirement that pharmacies report to the
health department any patient placed on TB treatment
This improved identification of TB cases,and provided
reliable information on the appropriateness of TB treatment
by the private sector. In 1981, he instituted directly
observed therapy for most City TB cases, which ensured
complete and appropriate treatment.
At that time only one other city in the U.S. was using
DOT, which has now become the world-wide standard of care
for TB treatment. He centralized TB treatment in Baltimore
City into one clinic and began a program to provide "TB
Clinical Nurse Specialists" who were able to provide
a high level of TB care.
He introduced incentives to promote compliance with TB
treatment and collaborated with the City Detention Center
and HIV care clinics to establish TB screening and prevention
in special populations. He partnered with Johns Hopkins
University on public health clinical research. While other
U.S. cities had stable or increasing rates of TB in the
1980's and 90's, Baltimore's rate steadily declined (from
35.6 / 100,000 in 1981 to 9.2 in 2001).1
In other areas of public health, Dr. Glasser was an early
proponent of needle-exchange programs and programs for
AIDS prevention and education. Patient care was his first
priority when he proposed innovative work standards and
developed operating procedures for TB care. His ingenuity
and dedication significantly influenced the practice of
TB control.
1Chaulk CP, Moore-Rice K, Rizzo R, Chaisson RE. Eleven
years of community-based directly observed therapy for
tuberculosis. JAMA 1995; 274:945-951.
Dr David
Glasser Memorial Tuberculosis Control Award
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