By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Raising millions for building projects, boosting local cancer research, overseeing the training of a new generation of medical experts - Dr. Jane Henney has a far-reaching to-do list as she begins her job as top executive of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

One of only six women at the helm of 105 academic medical centers nationwide, Henney is part of a sweeping leadership change at the UC Medical Center that includes a new dean of the college of medicine, a new chief of surgery, and several key new faculty members and high-profile researchers.

Her title is awkward: senior vice president and provost for health affairs. But her job puts her in charge of an enterprise bigger than most corporations in town.

In her first interview since starting work Aug. 1, Henney said her overall goal is to push the UC Medical Center to a new level of national and international status.

Her early plans include increasing research dollars flowing into the medical center, working with industry to improve training programs for biotech careers, raising funds for a $250 million renovation project, and boosting cancer research and treatment.

"Hopefully, the person on the street will feel proud that they have an institution like the medical center because it has brought the community something that is nationally and internationally known," Henney said.

One place she wants to start is the Barrett Cancer Center at University Hospital, which opened in 1988 and treats hundreds of patients a year. Henney wants to expand the center's role in clinical trials, which allow patients to try experimental cancer treatments.

The center has had an interim director since January 2001 and has put on hold its quest to become a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer center. NCI-designated centers are the nation's most significant players in cancer research and care. The Ohio State University already has achieved such status.

"The goal is still to become an NCI-designated cancer center," Henney said.

But first, a permanent director must be found and clinical research must be expanded, she said.

She also wants to increase efforts to train people for the growing biotech industry.

"We're not training enough research techs to meet our own needs, much less supply people to meet industry needs," she said.

Henney comes to UC with a background deeply connected to research, especially drug development. As a top medical administrator at the University of Kansas and the University of New Mexico, she was involved in supporting academic research - the first step in developing a drug.

In her years as a deputy director of the National Cancer Institute, an institution that provides millions in grants for drug research, she was involved in monitoring clinical trials of experimental cancer drugs.

And as head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 1998-2001, she oversaw the massive regulatory agency that decides when new drugs are ready for market.

"Except for being in private industry, I've seen every facet of product development," Henney said.

Tackling health-care concerns

Henney, 56, will be paid $450,000 a year to oversee a vast medical education, research and service complex that employs more than 10,000 people and claims a $3 billion annual economic impact on the city.

She comes to town amid considerable turmoil in the health care field. Doctors are concerned about low reimbursement. Hospitals are struggling to hire enough nurses and pay for technology upgrades.

Employers are frustrated by rising health benefit costs. And consumers are increasingly worried about long waits for doctor appointments and rising bills for care.

Amid these struggles, Henney said the UC Medical Center remains strong.

The UC Medical Center includes the colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and allied health, which train most of the doctors and many of the nurses and medical staff who work in the region.

It has close affiliations with University Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the VA Medical Center and the Hoxworth Blood Center.

It brings more than $200 million a year in research funding to town, including the advanced projects at the new Genome Research Institute in Reading and the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies in Corryville.

The medical center also is closely linked to the Bio/Start biotech business incubator, where more than a dozen start-up companies are pursuing product developments.

In addition to her direct authority over the medical center, Henney sits on the board of trustees of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, the Tristate's biggest health system. The alliance includes six hospitals, the UC Physicians specialty group and other services.

"We want Cincinnati to be seen as a good place to live and work. We want to be seen as a good neighbor," Henney said.

Much of the turmoil in the medical system today reflects leaps in medical technology that are fundamentally changing how the system works, Henney said. Many more services once limited to hospitals can be performed in outpatient centers and at home, which forces hospitals to rethink everything they do.

A key for the Health Alliance will be to stay nimble enough to reflect rapidly changing times, she said.

Meanwhile, UC hopes to build its research power with a $250 million renovation of its medical sciences building. The 900,000-square-foot complex houses most medical student training, faculty offices and numerous laboratories.

Demolition is nearly complete of a parking garage next to the medical sciences building that makes room for a six-story laboratory tower. Dubbed the Center for Academic Research Excellence, it is expected to be built by 2007 at a cost exceeding $100 million. That facility will make room to renovate the medical sciences building for another $150 million.

One of Henney's top jobs will be to continue seeking money and support for this long-range project.

"Research is a big driver. It sets us apart," Henney said. "It allows medical centers to do what they should do - discover the next things that can help people."

Meanwhile, Henney said she plans to be more attentive to community concerns about health care.

For example, she has met with Dwight Tillery, a former Cincinnati mayor who is part of a coalition concerned about racial gaps in health services and disease rates. A community forum on the issue is planned for November.

At the federal level, health planners have been studying racial disparities in health care since the 1980s, Henney said.

"Some communities have been very active in this area," Henney said. "I'm certainly glad to lend my support."

With so many priorities, how will people ever know if Henney did a good job?

"Have our research programs thrived? Are more departments moving up in the rankings of NIH support? Is the institution a leader of innovation? Are our graduates well-prepared? Those are the tests," she said.

Dr. Jane Henney

Position: Senior vice president and provost for health affairs at UC Medical Center.

Age: 56.

Background: Native of Indiana (grew up in the small community of Woodburn). She earned an undergraduate degree from Manchester College, a medical degree from Indiana University, and completed subspecialty training in medical oncology at the M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and the National Cancer Institute.

Experience: Senior scholar in residence, Association of Academic Health Centers; commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; deputy director, National Cancer Institute; vice chancellor and interim medical school dean at the University of Kansas Medical Center, vice president for health sciences at the University of New Mexico.

Family: Married to Bob Graham.

Residence: Mount Adams.

Hobby: Fly fishing.

New leadership at UC Medical Center

Deans and department chairs changes at University of Cincinnati Medical Center since 2000:


•  Dr. William Martin, dean, College of Medicine
Start date: July 2002
Martin is the 46th dean since the college's inception by frontier physician Daniel Drake in 1819. Martin held several posts at the Indiana University School of Medicine, including executive associate dean of clinical affairs and chief executive of the Indiana University Medical Group.


•  Elizabeth King, Ph.D., dean, College of Allied Health Sciences
Start date: June 2002
King came to UC from Eastern Michigan University, where she served as dean of the College of Health and Human Services for almost 20 years. She has authored nearly 30 papers and two books.


•  Dr. Jeffrey Matthews, chair, Department of Surgery
Start date: April 2001
Matthews came to UC from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His special interests include gastrointestinal, pancreatic, hepatobiliary and bariatric surgery.


•  Dr. William Hurford, chair, Anesthesia
Start date: Oct. 1, 2003
Hurford is coming to UC from Massachusetts General Hospital. He also is an associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School.


•  David Millhorn, Ph.D., director of the Genomic Research Institute
Start date: July 2002
The GRI started with a gift from Aventis Pharmaceuticals of 750,000 square feet of laboratories in Reading, valued at $100 million. The laboratories are to be used for gene research.


•  Dr. Raj K. Narayan, chairman, Department of Neurosurgery
Start date: July 2002
Narayan came to UC from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, where he was chair of the Department of Neurosurgery for seven years.


•  Dr. Baha Sibai, chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Start date: May 2000
Sibai earned an M.D. from American University in Beirut, Lebanon, and completed a fellowship at the Lahey Clinic Foundation in Boston and the University of Tennessee, Memphis.


Key new faculty and researchers

•  Dr. Tim Broderick, Department of Surgery
Start date: August 2003
Broderick has been dubbed a "space" doctor because of his work with NASA's Medical Informatics and Technology Applications Consortium, based in Virginia. He leads UC's new Interventional Technology Training Center.


•  Dr. Joseph Buell, transplant surgeon and assistant professor, Department of Surgery
Start date: July 2000
Buell specializes in liver transplantation, hepatobiliary surgery and laparoscopic surgery. He is an investigator for three National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trials

•  Ranajit Chakraborty, Ph.D., professor, Department of Environmental Health,
Start date: August 2001
Chakraborty's research interests include development of statistical methodology to detect the role of genetic factors in complex diseases and the use of gene sequences to determine origin and migration of populations


•  Lique Coolen, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Cell biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy
Start date: January 2000
Coolen has received a national award and media attention for his research on male sexual dysfunction.


•  Dr. Sue Heffelfinger, associate professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Start date: September 2002
Heffelfinger is an expert on vascular growth and the internal signals that can trigger tumor growth.


•  Dr. Donald Locasto, assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine
Start date: July 2001
Locasto is an expert in bioterrorism defense. He has worked with the military and emergency response teams in Ohio and Pennsylvania and works with other bioterrorism defense experts.


•  Dr. Andrew Lowy, associate professor, Department of Surgery, chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, associate director of UC Cancer Programs
Start date: July 2002
Lowy's special interests include gastrointestinal and pancreaticobiliary malignancies.


•  Dr. Walter Merrill, professor, Department of Surgery, chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Start date: May 2002
Merrill's special interests include adult heart surgery, heart transplantation, and adults with congenital heart disease.


•  Julie Nelson, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Molecular Genetics
Start date: January 2002
Nelson follows the evolution of HIV and hepatitis C virus within patients who are infected with one or both of these viruses.


•  Stephen Page, Ph.D., director or research and assistant professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Start date: August 2002
Page came to UC from The Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey.


•  Dr. Nelson Watts, professor, Department of Internal Medicine, and director of the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Center
Start date: September 2001
Watts' major research interest is in osteoporosis, particularly the study of therapeutic agents and tests for diagnosis and monitoring.


•  Dr. Randall Wolf, director, Center for Surgical Innovation, appointments in the Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering
Start date: August 2003
Wolf was for four years director of the Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery and Robotics Department at Ohio State University Medical Center. While there, he performed the first endoscopic cardiac procedure in North America in 1999.
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E-mail tbonfield@enquirer.com