An expert on Syndrome W, a new model of hyperinsulinemia, hypertension and midlife weight gain in healthy women with normal glucose tolerance, Harriette Rosen Mogul, MD, became involved in her profession because her father was a physician and her great aunt on her father’s side was also a well-known female physician. On her mother’s side of the family, her first cousin was a well-known pathologist, who made some major discoveries. Dr. Mogul’s familial inspirations were her main influence in deciding to pursue medicine. After establishing her career in medicine, she completed a United States study of growth hormone treatment in adults with Prader Willi syndrome, a genetic multisystem disorder characterized during infancy by lethargy, diminished muscle tone (hypotonia), feeding difficulties with poor weight gain and growth, and other hormone deficiency.
Dr. Mogul began her professional career as the director of the health services department at Barnard College and Columbia University in New York in 1971, remaining in this position for 20 years. During this time, she was also the founder and director of the Institute of Women’s Medical Research between the two schools from 1985 to 1991. She then served as an associate professor in the women’s health program at New York Medical College in Valhalla from 1992 until her retirement in 2018. She was also the founder and director of the Obesity Research and Treatment Center between 2003 and 2004. In addition to this tenure, Dr. Mogul was the principal investigator in the student suicide prevention program of the Pew Memorial Trust at the New York City Teaching Collaborative from 1988 to 1990 and a pediatric gastroenterology fellow of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Prior to the start of her career, Dr. Mogul pursued a formal education at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1961. She then attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, where she received an MD in 1965. She went on to attain a Master of Public Health from the School of Public Health at Columbia University in 1991. Additionally, Dr. Mogul is certified in endocrinology through the Westchester Medical Center since 1996.
Active in her local community, Dr. Mogul was the president of the national board of governors for the Alumni Association of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1998 to 2000. She also co-wrote “Syndrome W, A Woman’s Guide to Reversing Midlife Weight Gain” in 2005, which has sold more than 130,000 copies with all profits committed to research at New York Medical College. The mentor who motivated and inspired her most was Helen B. Rinney, who was a famous hematologist. In light of her myriad achievements, Dr. Mogul was named a Woman of Distinction by the Women’s Division of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2005 and later received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the school in 2019, which she considers a major career highlight. Furthermore, she was selected for inclusion in the 65th edition of Who’s Who in America.
Today, Dr. Mogul has been known to enjoy writing, taking photographs, cooking and gardening in her spare time. She is married to her loving husband of 55 years, Malcolm D. Mogul, with whom she has raised three wonderful children, Jennifer Mogul Campbell, Fred and Douglas. Dr. Mogul is also a doting grandmother to six beloved grandchildren.
