Obama Nominates F.T.C. Economist to Top Regulatory Post – NYTimes.com

President Obama has nominated Howard Shelanski, the top economist at the Federal Trade Commission, to direct the White House office overseeing all federal regulations.

If confirmed, Mr. Shelanski will direct the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a branch of the Office of Management and Budget

via Obama Nominates F.T.C. Economist to Top Regulatory Post – NYTimes.com.

C. Everett Koop, Forceful Surgeon General, Dies at 96 – NYTimes.com

Dr. C. Everett Koop, who was widely regarded as the most influential surgeon general in American history and played a crucial role in changing public attitudes about smoking, died on Monday at his home in Hanover, N.H. He was 96.

via C. Everett Koop, Forceful Surgeon General, Dies at 96 – NYTimes.com.

AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy to Step Down

Earlier today, Dr. Carolyn Clancy announced that she will step down as director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality after 10 years of service. As director of the lead agency for health services research, Dr. Clancy has been a tireless advocate for the use of evidence in policymaking. Under her leadership AHRQ focused important attention on improving the safety and quality of care for all. She launched the first annual report to Congress on health care disparities and health care quality, led the development of the Affordable Care Act’s National Quality Strategy, and collaborated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to launch the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) provisions on assessing children’s quality of care.

via AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy to Step Down.

Thomas Szasz, Relentless Freedom Fighter, Dead at 92 – Hit & Run : Reason.com

I am sorry to report that Thomas Szasz, the great libertarian critic of coercive psychiatry, the “therapeutic state,” and the war on drugs, died over the weekend at his home in Manlius, New York. He was 92.

via Thomas Szasz, Relentless Freedom Fighter, Dead at 92 – Hit & Run : Reason.com.

Remembering Rick Brown: An Advocate For Reform And Data-Driven Policy – Health Affairs Blog

E. Richard (Rick) Brown, a nationally recognized public health leader who advocated for health care reform and pioneered the collection and broad dissemination of health survey data to influence policy, died Friday, April 20. Rick was 70 at the time of his death, and passed away shortly after moderating a session at the Keeneland Conference Center in Kentucky on the critical role of state and local health surveys. Throughout his life, Rick looked for ways to build bridges between the most underserved Americans and the people who were supposed to help them – lawmakers, academics, and advocates. For Rick, helping people was always a deeply personal mission.

via Remembering Rick Brown: An Advocate For Reform And Data-Driven Policy – Health Affairs Blog.

Lester Breslow, Who Tied Good Habits to Longevity, Dies at 97 – NYTimes.com

Dr. Lester Breslow, a public health leader whose research gave mathematical proof to the notion that people can live longer and healthier by changing habits like smoking, diet and sleep, died Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97.

via Lester Breslow, Who Tied Good Habits to Longevity, Dies at 97 – NYTimes.com.

People Post: Board Appointments & Comings and Goings at Foundations, plus an Award Winner – GrantWatch Blog

People Post: Board Appointments & Comings and Goings at Foundations, plus an Award Winner

via People Post: Board Appointments & Comings and Goings at Foundations, plus an Award Winner – GrantWatch Blog.

Tidbits from the Grantmakers In Health Annual Meeting: Health Equity, Social Determinants of Health – GrantWatch Blog

After David Gould of the United Hospital Fund gave a wonderful farewell tribute to Lauren LeRoy, who has announced she would be stepping down in October from the leadership of GIH, she announced that it was GIH’s thirtieth anniversary.

via Tidbits from the Grantmakers In Health Annual Meeting: Health Equity, Social Determinants of Health – GrantWatch Blog.

U.S. picks public health expert for World Bank job | Reuters

The United States picked a public health expert of South Korean origin as its candidate for the World Bank presidency, a job emerging market economies are contesting for the first time.

In an announcement on Friday at the White House President Barack Obama said he was nominating Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization.

via U.S. picks public health expert for World Bank job | Reuters.

UNC School of Public Health – Alan Cross, professor in schools of medicine and public health, dies Jan. 5

Alan Cross, MD, professor of social medicine and pediatrics in the UNC School of Medicine and of maternal and child health at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, died peacefully at his home on Jan. 5.

Dr. Cross, who served on the medical school faculty for more than 30 years, was a major part of the experience of a generation of medical students.

via UNC School of Public Health – Alan Cross, professor in schools of medicine and public health, dies Jan. 5.