Janis P. Bellack Named President of MGH Institute of Health Professions.

National Search Taps Boston Health Professions Leader to Lead 800 Student Graduate School

BOSTON -- Following an extensive nationwide search, Janis P. Bellack, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been named the next President of the MGH Institute of Health Professions, an independent graduate school and academic affiliate of the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Bellack, previously Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost and Professor of Nursing and Health Sciences at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, is a widely published and nationally recognized health professions leader with extensive experience as a federally funded investigator.

Dr. Bellack will assume her post at the beginning of the new academic year in September. As President of the MGH Institute, Bellack will also hold an academic appointment as John Hilton Knowles Professor. She arrives on campus just as the MGH Institute significantly expands its existing Graduate Program in Nursing with the introduction of a Doctor of Nursing Practice and an Accelerated BSN. Degree and certificate programs are also offered in physical therapy, speech-language pathology, clinical investigation and medical imaging.

While her early career focused on nursing education, Dr. Bellack has been responsible for leading and shaping health professions education across a range of disciplines for more than a decade. Since 1997 she has been a senior consultant and core faculty team member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Executive Nurse Fellows Program based at the University of California, San Francisco, Center for the Health Professions. She has been a Senior Fellow at the Center since 1996.

Dr. Bellack is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and was a member of the national advisory committee of the Robert Wood Johnson-funded Partnerships for Quality Education Program from 1999 - 2006. During her thirteen year tenure at the Medical University of South Carolina, she was an effective advocate of interdisciplinary education, and promoted interdisciplinary primary care education as a consultant to the South Carolina Area Health Education Center. She has been associate editor of the Journal of Nursing Education since 1998.

"Dr. Bellack's national reputation as a collaborative program builder and as a recognized leader in helping to shape health professions education, makes her the ideal choice to lead the MGH Institute," said MGH Institute board of trustees chair George E. Thibault, MD, Vice President of Clinical Affairs for Partners HealthCare System, and Daniel D. Federman Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Harvard Medical School. Bellack will succeed Ann W. Caldwell, who announced last September that she would step down this year after ten years as president of the MGH Institute.

Dr. Bellack earned her PhD in Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation from the University of Kentucky, a master's degree in pediatric nursing from the University of Florida. She began her nursing education at the University of Virginia, graduating from the school's last diploma class, followed by a BSN two years later. Earlier this month, the UVA nursing alumni association named her the recipient of its 2007 Distinguished Alumna Award. The University of Kentucky named Bellack to its Alumni Hall of Fame in 2002.

Dr. Thibault chaired the presidential search committee which was comprised of several MGH Institute trustees, with additional members representing the faculty, administration, alumni, and Partners HealthCare: Andrew Dwyer '00, Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Research Coordinator, Reproductive Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital; Jeanette Ives Erickson, Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse Executive, Massachusetts General Hospital; Julia L. Greenstein, President, Life Science Advisers, LLC; John V. Guttag, Dugald C. Jackson Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Charles Haynes, Associate Professor, Graduate Program in Communication Sciences and Disorders; Mairead Hickey, Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer, Brigham & Women's Hospital; Matina Horner, President Emerita, Radcliffe College; Mary Knab, Clinical Assistant Professor, Graduate Programs in Physical Therapy; Carolyn Locke, Director of Student Affairs; and Sara Sievers, Senior Program Officer, Developing Country Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The MGH Institute of Health Professions (www.mghihp.edu), an academic affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital, is an innovative and independent graduate school that operates within the framework of Partners HealthCare System. A progressive leader in developing comprehensive models of health care education, the MGH Institute prepares advanced practice professionals for careers in the fields of nursing, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, medical imaging (radiologic technology) and clinical investigation through a distinctive combination of academic study, clinical practice and research. An average of nearly 800 students are enrolled in graduate level and certificate programs, with an increasing number of courses available online. The MGH Institute is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

[Editors: Our style preference is to not spell out 'MGH' on a first reference to our name, as it incorrectly implies the Institute is a department within the hospital. Alternately, we recommend, "The MGH Institute of Health Professions, an academic affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital..."]