Memories of Bernadine P. Healy, M.D.

 former Director, National institutes of Health

 August 9, 2011              

In 1991 I was U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services when I proposed to President George H. W. Bush that he appoint Dr. Healy to be the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).             

In addition to Dr. Healy’s very important and very successful emphasis on women’s health research at NIH (which I strongly supported as Secretary of Health), she appointed an African American female physician (Dr. Vivian Pinn) as the director of the Women’s Health Initiative.             

Further evidence of her pioneering spirit was her appointment of the first African American director of an institute at NIH (Kenneth Olden, Director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences).             

Dr. Healy gave strong support to the new NIH Office for Research in Minority Health (ORMH), which had been organized just prior to her appointment as NIH Director.  In 2001 ORMH became the Center for Research in Minority Health and Health Disparities (CRMHD), and in 2010 it became the National Institute for Research in Minority Health and Health Disparities.             

Dr. Healy was a strong leader and advocate for biomedical research, including research on women’s health, the health of minorities and the health of the socioeconomically disadvantaged in our society.               

We mourn her passing but we cherish her accomplishments and our memories of her. 

Louis W. Sullivan, MD

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1989-1993