After obtaining his medical degree from Harvard in 1960, he served a two-year residency in Rochester.
[3] He worked on issues of regulating doctors and hospitals, the confidentiality of AIDS patients, anti-smoking legislation and universal health insurance.
[2] In the 1980s, Axelrod collaborated with the President of the University at Albany, SUNY to establish the School of Public Health.
[5] He also suffered a tarnished reputation in his handling of Love Canal, and was not transparent or forthcoming in his communications with the 700 affected families.
[citation needed] His career ended after he suffered a stroke in February 1991; he died three years later.