Former NIH Head Bernadine Healy to be Dean of Medicine

FORMER NIH HEAD BERNADINE HEALY TO BE DEAN OF MEDICINE

     COLUMBUS -- Bernadine P. Healy, former head of the National 
Institutes of Health and currently a physician at the Cleveland 
Clinic Foundation, has been named dean of the College of Medicine 
at The Ohio State University.  The appointment, approved Friday 
(7/7) by the university's Board of Trustees, is effective Sept. 
25.

     "We are very fortunate to have an individual as 
distinguished as Bernadine Healy to be our dean of medicine," 
said Manuel Tzagournis, vice president for health sciences.  "As 
director of NIH, she held one of the most important research 
positions in America.  That experience, combined with her strong 
background in academic medicine, gives her outstanding 
credentials.  I look forward to working with her as she brings 
her leadership skills and vision to our medical program."

     Healy will succeed Tzagournis, who has been dean of the 
College of Medicine since 1980 as well as vice president for 
health services since 1985.  In June 1994, as part of the 
university's ongoing restructuring, Tzagournis was given the 
renamed title of vice president for health sciences with 
additional responsibilities for academic and fiscal leadership 
for the colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Optometry, 
Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine.  He agreed to continue to serve 
as dean of medicine while a search was undertaken for his 
successor in that position.

     "Strong academic medical centers are crucial to the present 
and future of American medicine," Healy said.  "I am deeply 
honored to have the opportunity to join a strong team of academic 
leaders at Ohio State and, with them, participate in the 
challenges of enriching medical practice, research and teaching 
in Ohio."

     Healy, 50, is a native of New York City.  She earned her 
bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Vassar College in 1965 and 
her medical degree cum laude from Harvard School of Medicine in 
1970.  She completed postgraduate training in internal medicine 
and cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of 
Medicine.

     From 1976 to 1984, Healy was a member of the Hopkins 
faculty, rising to the position of professor of medicine and 
serving as director of the coronary care unit and as assistant 
dean for postdoctoral programs and faculty development.

     In 1984, President Reagan named her deputy director of the 
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  She served 
as a member of several White House advisory groups in this 
capacity.

     From 1985 to 1991, she was chair of the Research Institute 
of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where she directed the 
research programs of nine departments, including efforts in 
cardiovascular diseases, neurobiology, immunology, cancer, 
artificial organs and molecular biology.

     President Bush named Healy as director of the National 
Institutes of Health in January 1991.  This federal agency 
supports the work of 4,000 scientists at its headquarters in 
Bethesda, Md., and is the major funder of biomedical research at 
universities and hospitals nationwide.  It has more than 16,000 
employees and an annual budget of over $11 billion.

     Shortly after her appointment, Healy launched the NIH 
Women's Health Initiative, a $625 million effort to study the 
causes, prevention and cures of diseases that affect women.  She 
initiated NIH's first strategic planning effort, established a 
major intramural laboratory for the Human Genome Project, and 
oversaw the elevation of nursing research to institute status.

     After leaving the NIH directorship in the change of 
presidential administrations in 1993, she returned to the 
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where she is a member of the staff 
and director of health and science policy.

     Among her many professional affiliations, she has been 
president of the American Heart Association and is a member of 
the American Board of Internal Medicine.  She is a member of the 
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  

     Currently, she serves on the boards of trustees of the 
Battelle Memorial Institute, the Hudson Institute, the Brookings 
Institution, and the Center for Strategic and International 
Studies.  She is a past member of the Board of Trustees of Vassar 
College and the Board of Overseers of Harvard University.

     At Ohio State, she was a member of the University Hospitals 
Board from 1990-91 and a member of the advisory committee to the 
School of Natural Resources, also in 1990-91.  She gave the June 
1992 commencement address at the university.

     She served in 1987-88 on the Ohio Board of Regents' advisory 
panel on the Ohio Eminent Scholars Award and chaired the Regents' 
Ohio Council on Research and Economic Development in 1989-91.

     Healy serves on the editorial boards of numerous scholarly 
journals and is editor in chief of the Journal of Women's Health.  
In September, Viking will publish her book, A New Prescription 
for Women's Health, which deals broadly with issues of primary 
importance to women across their lifespans.

     "Dr. Healy is widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent 
medical researchers in the United States," said Richard Sisson, 
senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.  "Her 
understanding and insights of the teaching and research 
opportunities of our faculty and students will help to strengthen 
our position among the finest medical schools in the country."

     President E. Gordon Gee added: "We are very proud that Dr. 
Healy will serve as dean of Ohio State's College of Medicine.  
>From her service as a professor of medicine and assistant dean of 
the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and as 
chairman of the Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic 
Foundation to her directorship of the National Institutes of 
Health, she is a leader in medical practice and biomedical 
sciences.  We look forward to her distinguished service to Ohio 
State."

     Ohio State's College of Medicine consistently has been 
ranked as one of the nation's best comprehensive medical schools, 
with highly regarded programs in research and physician training.  
There are about 850 students enrolled in the M.D. program, as 
well as some 570 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate 
programs in the college's School of Allied Medical Professions.

                             #

Contact: Manuel Tzagournis, (614) 292-0926.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 7 Jul 1995 16:54:27 -0400]
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