Noe retiring after 40 years at UB

After 40 years of dedicated service, Mike Noe is retiring from UB.

Noe has served as associate dean for community relations and clinical affairs in the School of Public Health and Health Professions (SPHHP) since 2003, a role that fits well with his clinical interests in graduate and professional training of physicians in preventive medicine, medical management, quality improvement health care, geriatric medicine and long-term medicine, and in addressing the health risks of caregivers.

“Mike served in various roles in preventive medicine, epidemiology and public health during his remarkable career here at UB,” says SPHHP Dean Jean Wactawski-Wende. “His retirement will leave a void in our school and university, but we thank him for his remarkable contributions to the university and the community, and we wish him happiness in retirement.”

Noe joined the UB faculty in 1975, rising to the rank of clinical professor of epidemiology and environmental health (formerly social preventive medicine), as well as clinical associate professor of medicine.

Early in his career, he taught the foundational courses in epidemiology in SPHHP’s graduate program and also courses for medical students in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Working with John Naughton, then-dean of the medical school, he was a leader in establishing the Graduate Medical-Dental Education Consortium of Buffalo, which centralized the governance and administration of more than 40 residency training programs at UB and its affiliated hospitals.

In 1991, he founded the residency program in general preventive medicine, which he continued to direct for 25 years until it moved to the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences last July. During that time, he oversaw the training of physicians enrolled in this fully accredited graduate medical education program that has graduated more than 45 physicians — a number of whom remain in Western New York, including several who became UB faculty members.

From 2003-06, Noe served as interim chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Science in the new School of Public Health and Health Professions, which was created through the merger of the School of Health Related Professions with the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

In addition to his roles at UB, Noe held various senior executive positions in medical management throughout his career, including leadership roles within the Buffalo General Health System after joining the hospital staff in 1975, among them executive vice president and medical director. He also served as a vice president for medical affairs for the Kaleida Health System, the region’s largest non-profit health care provider.

Noe earned his medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University. He completed residency training in internal medicine and preventive medicine at Tulane University Medical Center and Veterans Hospital in New Orleans, also earning an MPH degree in 1973 while at Tulane. Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Preventive Medicine and the American Board of Medical Management, he is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American College of Physicians and the American College of Physician Executives.

Throughout his career, Noe received numerous accolades for his service. Specific awards include membership in Delta Omega, the National Public Health Honor Society; the Dean’s Award in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; the Dean’s Award in the School of Public Health and Health Professions; a Distinguished Physician Award from Buffalo General Hospital; and the Program of the Year Award from the Network in Aging for the Powerful Tools for Caregivers Program, which he brought to Western New York in collaboration with the Erie County Caregiver Collation and in which he remains active. In 2007, he was named one of the Top 50 in Health Care by Buffalo Business First.

Colleagues and friends honored Noe for his many years of service at a farewell reception last week in Harriman Hall.