Following college, Dr. Rothenberg entered a PhD program in Physiological Psychology at Yeshiva University (New York City) with a research fellowship at The Rockefeller University. Completing his Masters, he changed course, receiving his medical degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine "With Distinction" and elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Board certified in both Internal and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Rothenberg has been the director of the critical care units at Kaiser, Redwood City, Samaritan Medical Center (San Clemente, CA) and, most recently, Petaluma Valley Hospital. Additionally, he had an outpatient medical practice for over twenty years in San Clemente before moving back to the Bay Area. He currently is a clinical professor of medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine where he provides direct patient care and supervises residents and medical students on the teaching service.

Dr. Rothenberg also founded PacerView Technologies, a company focused on the intravascular electrocardiographic guidance of temporary bipolar transvenous pacing wires and central venous catheters. He holds 9 patents in this field. He served as a consultant to the international medical device company, Bard Access Systems, has spoken widely around the country and to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid about this technology, and was invited to speak at the First World Congress on Vascular Access in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.