A Farewell
Message
from
Gil Omenn
 |
After 28 years at the University of Washington, I've begun
a challenging and exciting new role at our peer institution, the University
of Michigan. In September I was appointed the university's executive vice
president for medical affairs and CEO of the Health System, comprising
the School of Medicine, the hospitals and health centers, the M-Care HMO,
and the Michigan Health Corporation for networks and joint ventures.
It is gratifying that the experiences we have shared in the broad world
of public health sciences, public health practice, and linkages with medicine
and my own values are now judged a good match for the emerging world of
academic medicine and competitive medical practice. My specific charge
is to align the educational, research, clinical, and business objectives
and responsibilities of the Health System so that we excel in each, and
to build productive collaborations with other units of this fine university.
I hope we can also have some collaborations with the UW.
I am delighted that Pat Wahl has so seamlessly taken over our joint
responsibilities for the Dean's Office. We have been terrific partners
for 12 years. It is notable that Tom Grayston and Bob Day, my predecessors
and the builders of this School, have remained active and were always helpful
to me. Pat has asked me to retain connections as an external adviser for
the new Public Health Genetics Program, headed by Melissa Austin. I'll
continue on the steering committee for the Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy
Trial (CARET) at the Hutchinson Center, and co-chair the national advisory
committee for Turning Point, which Bobbie Berkowitz directs for the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation at the UW. I remain interested in the Prevention
Effectiveness Center and the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder
Participation (CRESP). |
During my 15 years as dean and professor in Environmental Health, we
engaged in sustained efforts to strengthen the public health sciences,
especially by enhancing the laboratory base in Environmental Health and
more recently in Pathobiology, and by ensuring more extensive ties with
external partners in practice and with the Hutchinson Center, Group Health
Cooperative, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Veterans Affairs Medical
Center, and others in research.
Many members of our faculty have been elected to the Institute of Medicine
of the National Academy of Sciences. A first-rate program and an outstanding
faculty draw top-caliber students and staff; all contribute to our high
national standing among schools of public health. In 1995 we enjoyed a
memorable year celebrating the School's 25th Anniversary, during which
we produced a special issue of Washington Public Health that should be
a collector's item for all who have been associated with our institution.
For many years now this magazine has been a joint venture with the State
Department of Health.
Other accomplishments include increased private fundraising, including
the School's first endowed professorships (the Rohm & Haas Professorship
in Public Health Sciences and the Genentech Professorship in Biostatistics)
and the first endowed chair, the Sheldon D. Murphy Chair in Environmental
Health. I have high expectations that such fundraising will expand further
in the years ahead.
The public health community needs to use good science and every lever
we know to motivate individuals, political officials, corporations, and
other organizations to enhance healthy behaviors and prevent/avoid unhealthy
behaviors and exposures. At a time of great change in the world of medicine,
public health should be proactive about defining and improving the determinants
of health, and assessing the performance of medical and public health practitioners
and systems. At a time of renewal of our nation's commitment to environmental
stewardship, public health should respond through proactive engagement
with environmental agencies, corporations, environmentalists, community
stakeholders, and Indian nations to put problems into public health context,
as recommended by the recent Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk
Assessment and Risk Management, which I had the honor of chairing (see RiskWorld).
As we anticipate the new millenium and the further expansion of the
UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine, we should be ambitious
with our ideas and goals and energetic in pursuing them to improve the
health of people in Seattle, Washington State, and everywhere. I will always
be proud of our time together in this School and of my continuing affiliations.
My warm wishes to all of you in the School and to its extended family
in the community.
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Northwest Public Health
Created: 1/30/98 Updated: 7/15/99
