RODRICK WALLACE is a research scientist in the Department of Mental Health Epidemiology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He received his PhD in physics from Columbia University in 1977. His research has focused on the ecological effects of civic neglect of cities. He is co-author, with Deborah Wallace, of A Plague on Your Houses: How New York Was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled, published in 1999. He was the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Investigator Award.