Kenneth C. Rondello, M.D.: Making It Count on the Cutting Edge

by Brett H. Spielberg

From the Ivy League to ground zero, Kenneth C. Rondello, M.D., has spent his life like every Eagle Scout was taught to, trying to leave their campsite—the world— a better place than he found it.

The chairman of the Department of Allied Health and the academic director for the Department of Emergency Management at Adelphi, Dr. Rondello, in his own words, is a man of three hats.

He is a member of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) NY2 who has responded to some of the most catastrophic natural and man-made disasters in the country, as well as a volunteer for Medecins Sans Frontieres—better known in this country as Doctors Without Borders—who has taken countless trips across the globe to help others in need.

“As a student, I always respected and admired the professors most who were the ones still doing what they taught, not just teaching from a textbook,” Dr. Rondello said. “I promised myself were I ever to become a professor myself, I’d never stop doing what I was teaching, to keep me sharp.”

After graduating from Trinity University in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, Dr. Rondello continued his education at Yale University and, in 1994, earned a Master of Public Health in Public Medicine.

He further continued his education at St. George’s College in the United Kingdom where, in 2000, he became a medical doctor and an epidemiologist.

In 2004, he taught his first class, Health Management in Times of Disaster, something he only expected to teach for that one semester, but still does nearly 10 years later in the Spring 2013 semester at Adelphi.

By 2005 he was a full-time professor at Adelphi and over the past nine years has overseen the expansion of numerous departments.

From the M.B.A. in Health Services Administration to the Department of Allied Health in the School of Nursing and the Department of Emergency Management’s journey to University College, Dr. Rondello has been a core part of the University since his leap of faith to change from a job in the hospital to a job in academia.

“After so many years [14] as a student, I’m very comfortable in the academic environment,” Dr. Rondello said. “I appreciate Adelphi’s forward thinking letting me live the hybrid life that I do.”

Specializing in alternative medical treatment stations (ATMS)—also known as alternative care facilities (ACF)—Dr. Rondello practices, teaches and studies the science of converting a space into a medical facility.

After Hurricane Ike ravaged Eastern Texas in 2008, Dr. Rondello was deployed with DMAT NY2 to establish facilities for patients who gravely needed medical attention.

There, on the scene, he taught one of his courses live via satellite out of a grocery store that he and his team had converted into a functioning hospital in less than 24 hours.

Along with his response to Hurricane Ike and to 9/11 and numerous other trips across the country, Dr. Rondello volunteers his own time over academic breaks to Pro World, Global Aware, the Yale Alumni Service Corp and Doctors without Borders.

Since 2009, he has taken nearly a dozen trips from Haiti and Belize to Ghana and Nepal volunteering in a variety of capacities.

Always selfless, Dr. Rondello has continued on through scorpion bites in the rainforest and cholera or malaria outbreaks in Haiti or Ghana to live by that Eagle Scout code he learned two decades ago—leaving the world a better place than he found it and establishing a legacy everyone he touches can be proud of.