PITT HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE DIRECTOR NAMED AS FIRST M. ALLEN POND PROFESSOR

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 15 -- University of Pittsburgh Health Policy Institute Director Beaufort B. Longest, Jr., will be installed as the inaugural holder of the

M. Allen Pond Chair in Health Policy and Management at the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health on Tuesday, Nov. 28, at the University Club in Oakland.

The Pond Chair was made possible through gifts from an anonymous donor and the UPMC Health System in memory of Pond, a former dean and long-time faculty member of the Graduate School of Public Health. Pond served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service from 1948 to 1968, achieving the rank of rear admiral. As assistant surgeon general of the United States from 1963-68, he was responsible for all major policy planning and legislative activities of the Public Health Service, and he developed the basic plan and legislation for the Partnership for Health Act of 1966.

From 1968 to 1980, he served the Graduate School of Public Health in several capacities, including professor, associate dean, and dean. He was awarded the prestigious Sedgwick Memorial Medal in 1978 in recognition of "his remarkable record of service to the public health profession."

"The Health Policy Institute is another example of the synergies that exist between the University and the UPMC Health System that contribute to improving all aspects of health care, not only in the Pittsburgh region, but also across Pennsylvania and our nation," Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said. "We are most grateful to the donors of the Pond Chair, because their support will further strengthen Pitt's role as a leader in addressing the complex health policy issues that face health care organizations throughout the world."

Longest, who became director of Pitt's Health Policy Institute in 1980, is best known for his work on modeling managerial competence and governance issues in health care. He is also a strong advocate of health care organizations taking the role of civic leaders.

"An organization that views health not only as a function of services but also of the community's physical, social, and economic environments as well as the lifestyles and behaviors followed by its citizens, can make a much broader contribution to health," Longest said.

His writing on the civic roles of health care organizations influenced leaders in these organizations to think about their full range of responsibilities to the communities they serve. This work also has provided him the opportunity to be involved in the development of the UPMC Health System's groundbreaking Department of Community Initiatives.

A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Longest is also a member of the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy, Academy of Management, American Public Health Association, and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Last year, Longest received the American College of Healthcare Executive's Regents Award.

Longest's textbooks, "Managing Health Services Organizations and Systems" and "Health Policymaking in the United States," are among the most widely used textbooks in graduate health policy and management programs in the nation. The management book also is used extensively in Canada, Great Britain, and the Czech Republic, and is being translated and published in China.

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