Robert A. Hatcher, MD, MPH - Professor Emeritus
Family Planning
Academic Office
Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics
Family Planning Division
Faculty Office Building, 3rd Floor
49 Jesse Hill, Jr., Drive, S.E.
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone · 404-778-1696
Since 1968, Robert A. Hatcher, MD, MPH, has been a Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Emory University School of Medicine and served as director of the Emory University Family Planning Program until the mid-nineties. During his career in medicine, Dr. Hatcher has devoted himself to helping shape "humane and responsible reproductive health policies" on a national and international basis. He also has provided expert and compassionate clinical care for thousands of patients, has helped educate generations of doctors, and has published extensively.
Dr. Hatcher is known nationally for his book Contraceptive Technology, now in its 18th edition. Among many recognitions he has received through the years is the Rockefeller Public Service Award, which he received in 1981 for Service to Families and Youth. For the past five years, he has thoroughly enjoyed the process of accumulating stories for his annual calendar/book, Something Nice to Do 365 Days a Year, a compendium of daily suggestions for positive acts in everyday life.
Dr. Hatcher began his remarkable career of scholarship and service at Williams College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, among other honors. As early indications of his broad-reaching interests, he served as co-captain of the Williams track team, was New England Heavyweight wrestling champion in 1957 and 1959, and was tight end and fullback on the football team. Dr. Hatcher later served on the Board of Trustees of Williams. He received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1963, where he received Cornell's Good Physician Award, bestowed by his classmates.
He interned at Grady Hospital in Atlanta , where he completed a residency in pediatrics. After a tour of duty as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the U.S. Public Health Service, 1966-68, he returned to Emory and Grady. He went on to receive a master's in public health from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973. He later was named a Visiting Scientist at the Division of Reproductive Health of the Centers for Disease Control, 1980-89.
He established the Emory University Summer Program in Family Planning and Human Sexuality in 1966. This ten-week summer learning experience drew 550 students, undergraduates, graduate, and medical students, from across the United States and from many foreign countries. Except for 1996 (when the Olympic games brought the world to Atlanta ) the program continued for 30 years, concluding in 1998. Dr. Hatcher has served as an international consultant on family planning. He was senior author of two editions of Family Planning Metbods and Practices: Africa and consulted with officials for the Oral Contraceptive Pill Project of the Indian Medical Association. He also assisted in the development of the National Family Planning Service Guidelines for Egypt. Dr. Hatcher received the Kenneth J. Ryan, MD Physician Leadership Award in 2007.
Selected Publications
A Pocket Guide to Managing Contraception. M Zieman, RA Hatcher, C Cwiak, yearly editions 1999 - 2007.
Contraceptive Technology, 18th edition, 2004, Hatcher RA, et al.