C. Ronald Mackenzie MD

Dr. C. Ronald MacKenzie is an attending physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Professor of Clinical Medicine and Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College. Recently named The C. Ronald MacKenzie Chair in Ethics and Medicine at Hospital for Special Surgery, he has practiced rheumatology, general internal medicine and has provided perioperative care at this institution and New York-Presbyterian Hospital for the last 30 years.

Originally from Canada, he received his Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Ontario and his medical degree from the University of Calgary. He was trained in Winnipeg and New York at New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell) and Hospital for Special Surgery. He subsequently joined the medical staff of these institutions later adding an appointment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he is a consulting physician (Rheumatology). With his selection as a faculty scholar in the Ethics Division at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (02-04), he began his formal training in medical ethics, and interest culminating in the above-mentioned Chair as well as his appointment to the Ethics and Conflict of Interest Committee of the American College of Rheumatology, his primary professional association, chairing the committee from 2010-2013.

Dr. MacKenzie’s interest in the intersection between medicine and the humanities is demonstrated through a number of activities. He is a member of the American Osler Society, an organization devoted to the history of medicine with particular reference to the life and enduring contributions of William Osler as well as the Charaka Club, an organization founded in 1898 by physicians with a shared interest in the historical and literary aspects of medicine. In addition, he serves on the Editorial Board of The Pharos, the journal of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, an organization whose focus is the promotion of humanism through gifted teaching, leadership development, and service to others.