Health & Society Scholars Program Director Named Dean of UCSF School of Nursing
Health & Society Scholars co-National Program Director David Vlahov, Ph.D., R.N., will serve as the new dean of the University of California–San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing, becoming the first male dean of the century-old school, UCSF announced on December 7, 2010. Vlahov co-directs Health & Society Scholars with Jo Ivey Boufford, M.D., president of the New York Academy of Medicine, which administers the program. Vlahov also serves as the senior vice president of research and director of the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies at the New York Academy of Medicine.
UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H., who announced Vlahov’s appointment in an e-mail address to the UCSF community, said that his track record and commitment to public health will serve the University well. “David brings an exciting combination of community-based research and intervention to UCSF. His unique blend of experience, leadership skills and interests is highly relevant given the continually evolving landscape of health care,” Desmond-Hellmann said in the e-mail.
“I would especially like to highlight the strong match between David’s research and UCSF’s focus areas. Not only is David a respected scientist in the areas of HIV infection—for which he received a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health—and population-based mental health research following community disasters, such as the World Trade Center attacks—he is also known for his longstanding commitment to addressing health care disparities through community research and clinical activities,” Desmond-Hellmann said.
Among Vlahov’s top priorities will be to update the School of Nursing’s strategic plan, which will define the role of the school and nurses in health care reform. The plan will also set direction for clinical education, management and the types of research that will be pursued.
Health & Society Scholars is working with RWJF to secure Vlahov’s replacement by the time of his departure on April 1, 2011.
Read More Programs’ Progress »
- Clinical Scholars Program Records Health Policy Podcasts
- New Connections Disseminates Call for Proposals
Clinical Scholars Program Records Health Policy Podcasts
The Clinical Scholars program recorded and posted two Health Policy Podcasts with leading health care policy experts Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Robert Galvin, M.D., CEO of Equity Healthcare at the Blackstone Group. Both sat down with series host, Matthew Press, M.D., (’08) during visits to the Clinical Scholars program site at the University of Pennsylvania. Clancy tells the story behind AHRQ’s name change from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research in 1999, her take on improving patient safety, and how AHRQ is giving patients a voice in comparative effectiveness research. Galvin gives listeners a business perspective on many of today’s key health policy issues—from concerns about health care reform to the potential of incentives for healthy behavior. Recently elected to the Institute of Medicine, Galvin is also a core faculty member of the Clinical Scholars program’s Yale University site, where he directs the course, “The Role of the Private Sector in the U.S. Health Care System.”
New Connections Disseminates Call for Proposals
The New Connections Round 6 Call for Proposals for junior investigators and midcareer consultants was launched on February 16, 2011. The program is designed to expand the diversity of perspectives that inform RWJF program strategy and introduce new researchers and scholars to the Foundation by offering research funding opportunities, as well as career development and mentoring activities, to scholars from historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.