January 20, 2006
Wagner Professor Elected as Institute of Medicine Foreign Secretary
Jo Ivey Boufford of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York City, has been elected as the next foreign secretary of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In this position, Boufford will serve as a senior adviser on international matters to the IOM president and Executive Council and as liaison to foreign academies of medicine and science. When her four-year term begins on July 1, she will succeed David Challoner, vice president for health affairs emeritus, University of Florida, Gainesville, who served as IOM's first foreign secretary.
Boufford is a professor of public service, health policy, and management at NYU's Wagner school, which she led as dean from 1997 through 2002. She is also professor of pediatrics at NYU's School of Medicine. Boufford previously served as principal deputy assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. During her tenure at HHS, Boufford was the U.S. representative to the executive board of the World Health Organization. She also served as president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., the largest municipal system in the United States, and as director of the King's Fund College, a charity that supports health and social services in the United Kingdom. Boufford was elected to the IOM in 1992 and currently serves on its Executive Council, Board on Global Health, and Board on African Science Academy Development.
"I am delighted that Jo Boufford has taken on this new responsibility," said IOM President Harvey V. Fineberg. "Her experience and interests equip her superbly for the role of foreign secretary, and I am sure she will make many vital contributions to the international programs of IOM and the National Academies."
