Rafael A Lantigua, MD

Internal Medicine
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Overview

Rafael Lantigua, M.D. is the Director, Office of Community Service Programs; Associate Dean for Community Service and Professor of Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Since coming to Columbia in 1980, he has a distinguished record of working to improve the health of aging minorities. He was the driving force behind CALME, the Columbia Center for the Active Life of Minority Elders, which supported research to reduce health disparities affecting minority elders and established an important bridge between Columbia researchers and the neighboring community. Dr. Lantigua also helped start the Columbia Center for the Health of Urban Minorities to shift community based-research from studies for the community to studies with the community. He is currently a primary care physician and clinician educator at the Associates in Internal Medicine (AIM) Clinic at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Lantigua earned his Medical Degree at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

Academic Appointments

  • Professor of Medicine at CUMC

Administrative Titles

  • Dean's Special Advisor for Community Health Affairs
  • Director, Office of Community Service Programs
  • Co-Director, Community Engagement Core Resource, Columbia CTSA

Hospital Affiliations

  • NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Gender

  • Male

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Location(s)

Insurance Accepted

Cigna

  • EPO
  • Great West (National)
  • HMO
  • POS
  • PPO

Local 1199

  • Local 1199

MagnaCare (National)

  • MagnaCare

Medicare

  • Railroad
  • Traditional Medicare

Multiplan

  • Multiplan

RiverSpring

  • Special Needs

UnitedHealthcare

  • Compass (Exchange)
  • Empire Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • POS
  • PPO

*Please contact the provider’s office directly to verify that your particular insurance is accepted.

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • Universidad de Santo Domingo
  • Internship: Lincoln Medical & Mental Health Center
  • Fellowship: 1979 Strong Memorial Hospital

Board Certifications

  • Internal Medicine

Research

Dr. Lantigua has been actively involved in research on issues that affect the quality of life in minority population.  From 1988-94 he served as co-investigator in a large scale community-based New York State Department of Health Program at Columbia to promote awareness and education of cardio-vascular disease in the Washington Heights-Inwood community.  From 1998-2008 he served as the principal investigator in the National Institute of Aging-funded Columbia Center for Active Life of Minority Elders (Resource Center for Minority Aging Research).  Since 1999 Dr. Lantigua has served as Deputy Director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University.  He has published more than 60 medical articles in peer-reviewed journals.