At Ohio State, Dr. Healy served as professor and Dean of the College of Medicine from 1995 to 1999. During her tenure, the college expanded its public health programs to become a School of Public Health, transforming the College of Medicine into a College of Medicine and Public Health.
With her efforts, the medical school became designated as a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. A new department of orthopaedics was created along with a planned development of a Musculoskeletal Institute. The James Cancer Center expanded its efforts in basic research with recruitment of Dr. Clara Bloomfield, an oncologist and leukemia researcher, and her husband Dr. Albert de la Chappelle, a world-famous geneticist. Together, they expanded the college’s programs in cancer research and tumor genetics. Cardiovascular research and practice grew with the recruitment of Dr. Robert Michler of Columbia University, who helped to revitalize the thoracic surgery and heart transplantation, and developed one of the earliest robotic heart surgery programs. Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, a cardiologist and researcher, who was recruited from Johns Hopkins, helped create the Heart and Lung Institute.
All of these accomplishments were done under the supervision of Bernadine Healy. With her expertise, passion, and intelligence, The Ohio State University helped to change the face of medicine.
Bernadine Healy helped change the face of medicine and contributed greatly to The Ohio State University and society in general. She was a physician, cardiologist, academic, and first female National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director. She also was a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, professor and dean of the College of Medicine and the College of Public Health at the The Ohio State University, and served as president of the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association. Additionally, she was chairman of the Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where she directed the research programs of nine departments, including cardiovascular disease, neurobiology, immunology, cancer, artificial organs, and molecular biology, and was a staff member of the clinic’s department of cardiology. She is famously known for her outspoken, innovative policymaking, and was particularly effective in addressing medical policy and research pertaining to women.