June 6, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

It is with a combination of deep regret coupled with considerable pride that we announce the departure of two vital members of the Hopkins Medicine family, L. Reuven Pasternak, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., vice dean for the Hopkins Bayview campus and a second-generation Johns Hopkins alumnus, and his wife, Nancy, acting vice president of the Johns Hopkins Home Care Group.

Reuven is leaving to become executive vice president and chief medical officer of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, a six-hospital system in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky that includes the University of Cincinnati Medical Center; and Nancy will be pursuing undoubtedly important opportunities in their new home.

Reuven is the quintessential Hopkins family man, with a father, a brother, a sister and immediate family, including cousins, holding more than 30 Hopkins degrees. We are extremely sorry to see him and Nancy leave the nest— but even more delighted by the immense honor he has received with this appointment. We know the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati will thrive under his leadership.

A 1972 Hopkins graduate in international relations, Reuven obtained his M.D. from Duke University , completed his residency at the University of North Carolina , and served as an assistant professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland . He returned to Hopkins as a resident in anesthesiology and a fellow in pediatric critical care in 1982.

Reuven joined the faculty in 1985 and founded the Same Day Care Center, one of the first academic pre-operation evaluation centers in the country. In 1992, he became the first chief of the Division of Ambulatory Anesthesia and was instrumental in the planning and construction of the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Clinic (JHOC).

He served as chief of anesthesiology at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center from 1994 to 2000, as well as president of Bayview's medical board from 1996 to 1997 and vice chair for clinical affairs in anesthesiology and critical care medicine from 1997 to 1999. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the last president of Johns Hopkins Bayview Physicians, the medical center's pioneering faculty practice group. His knowledge and insights greatly facilitated the smooth 2001 merger of Bayview Physicians with the School of Medicine 's Clinical Practice Association (CPA).

Reuven was named the first vice dean for the Hopkins Bayview campus in 2001.

His exceptional skills were of immense value when he served as a crucial liaison between the National Institutes of Health and Hopkins in discussions concerning the building of NIH's new $250 million, 563,000-square-foot Biomedical Research Center (BRC) at Bayview. It will be the new home for both the NIA and the NIH's other Bayview resident, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA).

He also has been a member of the boards of directors of Bayview and Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, as well as medical director of Johns Hopkins International's affiliate at Istanbul 's Anadolu Medical Center and of Nations Healthcare in London . In addition, he has served as chairman of the CPA's practice management committee and a member of its finance committee and board of directors.

Nancy, a registered nurse with degrees from the State University of New York and Catholic University of America, began her career at Hopkins in 1978 as a staff nurse in the adolescent medical-surgical unit and pediatric intensive care unit. Following work at the Kennedy-Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins Pediatrics at Home, and Johns Hopkins Home Health Services, she excelled as a leader of JHHCG. Under her guidance, JHHCG undertook an impressive restructuring of the Quality and Safety Department and implemented many important safety initiatives. Nancy 's tremendous clinical knowledge, exceptional ability to deal with multiple medical and administrative issues, and calm, caring concern for our patients and employees will be greatly missed.

In his new Cincinnati position, Reuven will be involved in clinical oversight and planning for the Health Alliance's six-hospital system, which soon will expand to seven hospitals. He will be overseeing development of enhanced clinical, academic and administrative and business relationships between the Alliance and the university as both expand their operations throughout the southern Ohio and northern Kentucky region.

Reuven and Nancy 's association with Hopkins will not be ending entirely, however. Their son Andy, 18, will become the third generation of his family to go to Hopkins , entering as a freshman at Homewood this fall. Their son Rob, 16, and daughter Jordan, 12, will transfer from the Gilman School to Cincinnati 's Seven Hills School .

All of us in the Hopkins community wish the Pasternaks continued success in each and every one of their future endeavors.

Edward D. Miller Jr., M.D.
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Dean of the Medical Faculty

Ronald R. Peterson
President, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and
Johns Hopkins Health System