Robert S. Gold is the founding Dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Health and is professor emeritus in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health. Dr. Gold holds a PhD from the University of Oregon and a Dr.P.H. from the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston. He has 50 years of experience in academia and public health with most work involved with the application of information technologies to public health. Dr. Gold currently holds an appointment as Professor Emeritus, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, at the UMD School of Public Health and was the former Director of the UMCP/SPH Public Health Informatics Research Laboratory. Dr. Gold's research interests include health communications projects and numerous technology development projects in the areas of asthma, cancer prevention, diabetes, HIV prevention, injury and violence prevention. He played a significant role in the oversight and conduct of a variety of national research studies such as the National Children and Youth Fitness Studies I and II, the National School Health Education Evaluation Study, and the National Adolescent Student Health Survey.