Holly J. Humphrey, MD, MACP, Named President of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation
Holly J. Humphrey, MD, MACP, Dean for Medical Education at the University of Chicago, has been selected as the next president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, the only national philanthropy solely dedicated to improving the education of health professionals. Dr. Humphrey also has been elected a member of the Foundation’s board. She will assume these roles on July 1, 2018.
Announcing the board’s decision, Macy board chairman William H. Wright said, “Dr. Humphrey is a smart and compassionate leader who has an impressive track record of nurturing both students and faculty to ensure excellence in teaching, learning and patient care. These qualities, along with her demonstrated commitment to vulnerable populations, diversity and interprofessional care, make Dr. Humphrey ideally suited to helping us deliver on the Foundation’s mission to improve the health of the public.”
Dr. Humphrey, a pulmonologist by training and the Ralph W. Gerard Professor in Medicine, has served as Dean for Medical Education at the University of Chicago for the past 15 years, overseeing undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. Under her watch, the university has launched numerous faculty development programs, including the Academy for Distinguished Medical Educatorsand MERITS Fellowship, and led a major curriculum reform effort with a focus on scholarship and discovery and interprofessional education. Dr. Humphrey also spearheaded a number of initiatives at the university aimed at promoting an inclusive learning environment, addressing health care disparities and diversifying medicine. She has published extensively on issues related to medical education, with an emphasis on the impact of mentoring in academic medicine, particularly for women and those who are underrepresented in medicine. She has published in Academic Medicine, JAMA, and other important medical education journals about such topics as professionalism, competency assessment, UME accreditation, duty hours and more. Dr. Humphrey’s programmatic and scholarly work also has focused on how to support the diversity and inclusion of the physician workforce. She has served on the board of directors of various professional associations as well as the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine.
“The Macy Foundation has had an outsized impact on American medicine and I’m honored to be selected as president,” said Dr. Humphrey. “In leading the Macy Foundation my aim will be to build upon this legacy, and continue to stimulate innovation and improve the education of future health care professionals in an evolving health care system.”
Kenneth S. Polonsky, MD, Dean and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Chicago, lauded Dr. Humphrey for her contributions. “Over the past three decades, Dr. Humphrey has directly influenced the education of thousands of medical students and residents,” Polonsky said. “We are grateful for Holly’s leadership and her commitment to the University of Chicago, our medical school, and the hospital and health system.”
Dr. Humphrey will be the Foundation’s eighth president, succeeding George E. Thibault, MD, who has led the Foundation for the last 10 years. During his tenure, Dr. Thibault focused on introducing new curriculum content and testing new models of clinical education, particularly team-based care, to align the education of health professionals more directly with a changing health care delivery system and the needs of the people it serves. He also launched the successful Macy Faculty Scholars Program, a career development program for nursing and medicine educators pursuing educational reforms.
“George has been a force of nature. He has positioned the Foundation to make a major contribution to the education of health professionals, and has shaped generations of health care leaders and innovators,” said Wright. “I am confident that Dr. Humphrey will continue this history of strong leadership, forging new pathways and taking on important issues in health professions education.”