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November 22, 2000

Longest named to new GSPH chair

Gifts totaling $1 million from an anonymous donor and UPMC Health System will establish the M. Allen Pond Chair in Health Policy and Management at Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health.

The late Pond was assistant surgeon general of the United States from 1963 to 1968.

From 1968 to 1980, he served Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health in several capacities, including professor, associate dean and dean. He was awarded the Sedgwick Memorial Medal in 1978 in recognition of "his remarkable record of service to the public health profession."

Beaufort B. Longest Jr., director of Pitt's Health Policy Institute, will be installed as the inaugural holder of the Pond chair Nov. 28.

Longest is best known for his work on modeling managerial competence and governance issues in health care. He also is an advocate of health care organizations taking the role of civic leaders.

"An organization that views health not only as a function of services but also of the community's physical, social and economic environments, as well as the lifestyles and behaviors followed by its citizens, can make a much broader contribution to health," Longest said.

A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Longest also is a member of the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy, Academy of Management, American Public Health Association and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Last year, Longest received the American College of Healthcare Executives' Regents Award. He was named director of Pitt's Health Policy Institute in 1980.

"The Health Policy Institute is another example of the synergies that exist between the University and the UPMC Health System that contribute to improving all aspects of health care, not only in the Pittsburgh region, but also across Pennsylvania and our nation," Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said. "We are most grateful to the donors of the Pond chair."

The gifts establishing the Pond chair are part of Pitt's capital campaign. The University is hoping to raise $500 million by July 2003 to support its academic mission and research programs and facilities needs.

Filed under: Feature,Volume 33 Issue 7

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