Dr. David D. Rutstein `30, chairman of the Medical School's Department of Preventive Medicine, has received a $125,000 grant to study physicians' increasing involvement with social problems.

Rutstein applied for the grant, awarded by the Commonwealth Fund of New York, in December. He plans to use the money to work on a new book, Medicine of the Future, which will deal with the social forces that are "pushing medical care into new patterns," Rutstein said.

He added that the book would prescribe new ways for a limited number of doctors to use their time more efficiently, in view of spiraling costs of medical care, growing population, and increased life expectancy.

The grant will also enable Rutstein to give a series of lectures in Sweden in April.

Rutstein is currently serving as medical member of Johnson's Peace Corps Advisory Council. He last year drafted a birth control bill that was defeated 119-97 in the state legislature. It would have permitted physicians to prescribe contraceptives.