University at Buffalo Names Michael Bernardino Vice President for Health Affairs

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Michael E. Bernardino, M.D., has been named vice president for health affairs at the University at Buffalo, UB President William R. Greiner announced today.

Bernardino, who also holds an MBA degree, has served since 1995 as director of managed care with the Emory University System of Health Care, Inc., in Atlanta and is a professor of radiology in the Emory University School of Medicine.

He will become the chief officer overseeing the clinical and collaborative activities of UB's five health-sciences schools -- medicine and biomedical sciences, dental medicine, health related professions, nursing and pharmacy -- on April 1. He also will oversee the university's relations with its affiliated teaching hospitals and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In addition, he will serve as leader for the health-sciences deans in planning and executing joint and cooperative programs of teaching and research, and be a key member of the president's cabinet.

John R. Wright, M.D., will continue as interim dean of the UB medical school, a position he assumed in January 1997 following the resignation of John P. Naughton, M.D.

Greiner described Bernardino's appointment as "an historic win for UB."

He added: "His leadership experience and his vision for the place of medical education in the rapidly changing health-care field will help bring focus and strength to the health sciences. "Western New York is very fortunate to have someone of his caliber become a part of our community; his joining us bespeaks the strength and potential, not only of health sciences at UB, but also the excellence of the region's health-care community."

UB Provost Thomas E. Headrick, who headed the search committee that recommended Bernardino, said he "blends an understanding and commitment to academic medicine with health-care business experience. He will be a firm leader with a clear sense of direction for the health sciences. His leadership and decision-making styles emphasize listening and learning from his faculty members, and the health and medical community, and bringing people together for shared goals and common benefits."

Headrick noted that among Bernardino's charges will be developing a five-year academic and financial plan for the medical school and more generally guiding the planning for the health sciences at UB.

As director of managed care with the Emory University System of Health Care, Inc., Bernardino oversees sales, marketing, contracting, medical management and community relations for a health-care system with net revenues of more than $1 billion. One of the projects that he has overseen is the consolidation of multiple system laboratories into a single laboratory system. Prior to becoming director, he was associate clinic director of managed care with the Emory Clinic, Inc.

Bernardino has been affiliated with the Emory University School of Medicine since 1982. He has served as director of magnetic resonance imaging and director of abdominal radiology at Emory University Hospital and as a professor in The Winship Cancer Center. Before joining Emory, he was affiliated with the University of Texas System Cancer Center and M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston and Everett (Wash.) General Hospital.

A graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Bernardino earned his medical degree in 1973 from Ohio State University and did his residency in diagnostic radiology at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. In 1996, he received an MBA degree from Roberto C. Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Certified by the American Board of Radiology, he is a past president of the Society of Computer Body Tomography and has been active in medical organizations, including the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists.

Bernardino, who has completed 25 research grants, has edited two books, authored or co-authored three dozen book chapters and more than 180 scientific articles, and given more than 250 scientific presentations or lectures.