NJMS Enews

On April 11th Dr. Robert L. Johnson held a Town Hall Meeting at which time he spoke about William F. Owen, Jr., MD, the next president of UMDNJ. Dr. Owen is chancellor of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis and vice president for health affairs. UTHSC includes three major academic campuses and multiple smaller academic and clinical facilities throughout Tennessee . The deans of the six health colleges; Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Allied Health, and Graduate Health Sciences, report to Dr. Owen.

Prior to taking the helm at Tennessee in 2006, he served as chief scientist for Baxter Healthcare Corporation's renal division in Deerfield , Ill. for three years while holding an adjunct appointment as professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. He was named a senior scholar at Duke's Fuqua School of Business in its health sector management program.

Dr. Owen has a strong background covering academic medicine, clinical healthcare and scientific research. His academic career includes 25 years of experience with Harvard Medical School and Duke University , while his clinical experience includes 12 years as a clinical and academic staff physician with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston . As a research scientist, he has garnered approximately ten million dollars in external funding and is well-published with approximately 200 journal articles, scientific reviews and editorials; 23 book chapters; and two books on dialysis and transplantation. He was recently appointed to the new national End Stage Renal Disease Advisory Board by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve through 2009. Also, he has been elected to the national board of directors for the American Association of Kidney Patients, which represents 12,000 members nationally.