THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Dr. Bernadine Healy

August 4, 1944 – August 6, 2011

“Getting into medical school at a time when women were seen as an exceptional and questionable addition to the profession made me more determined, more studious and, in the long run, probably more successful.”

Cardiologist, Author, Educator. First female director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1991 – 1993. First woman to join full-time faculty, cardiology, professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1982 – 1984. Deputy Director, White House Office of Science and Policy, 1984 – 1985. Chair, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, 1985. Started the Women’s Health Initiative studies, the largest randomized clinical trial in history to involve only women, 1991. Professor and dean of the College of Medicine, Ohio State University, 1995 – 1999. President, American Heart Association, 1998 – 1999. President and CEO, American Red Cross, 1999 – 2001. Health editor and columnist for U.S. News & World Report and the New England Journal of Medicine. Full scholarship, Vassar College, chemistry and philosophy, summa cum laude, 1965. Full scholarship, Harvard Medical School, cum laude, 1970.