University Times

Gov. Tom Ridge last week nominated Peter J. Jannetta, chairperson of Pitt medical school's neurological surgery department, to be state health secretary.

The office of Secretary of Health is a cabinet-level position requiring state Senate confirmation. Jannetta, 62, would head Pennsylvania's Department of Health, an agency with more than 1,300 employees and a budget of $589 million.

The health department plans and coordinates health resources across the state for the prevention and suppression of disease and injury. It also provides some direct services such as early childhood immunization, and maintains vital statistics, including birth and death records.

If the Senate confirms his appointment, Jannetta will turn over daily administration of Pitt's neurological surgery department to vice chairperson L. Dade Lunsford. Jannetta also said he will decline the health secretary's $80,000 salary and will maintain a limited, specialized clinical practice, performing surgery one-and-a-half days per week. To avoid apparent conflicts of interest, Jannetta would recuse himself from transactions or decisions involving Pitt.

Jannetta has headed Pitt's neurological surgery department since 1971. He is attending neurosurgeon at Presbyterian University Hospital and on the staffs of Montefiore, Children's and Latrobe Area Hospital. Jannetta received an A.B. in 1953 and an M.D. in 1957, both from the University of Pennsylvania. He was an intern, resident and chief resident in surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania until 1963. For the next three years, he was a resident and chief resident in neurosurgery at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences. Prior to joining the Pitt faculty, he was chief of neurological surgery at the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans for five years.