Dr. Thomas Boat Named Executive Associate Dean at UC College of Medicine

CINCINNATI—Thomas Boat, MD, has been appointed executive associate dean at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine effective April 1, 2008.

Boat will be responsible for operational oversight and strategic planning of all activities within the College of Medicine’s clinical programs and UC Physicians Inc., the 500-member faculty group practice of the college.

“I’m delighted that Tom has accepted my invitation to join the leadership team,” said David Stern, MD, dean of the college and vice president for health affairs at the UC Academic Health Center. “Tom’s extraordinary experience with the clinical operations at Cincinnati Children’s and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, are well-known, and he has the immense respect of our faculty. He’s well-suited to help us move the clinical mission of the college forward. We’re very fortunate that he will be taking on these new responsibilities.”

Boat stepped down in April 2007 after 14 years as chair of the UC department of pediatrics and director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. He remains on staff at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and as a professor of pediatrics at the College of Medicine. He also has served as physician-in-chief and a member of the board of trustees of Cincinnati Children's.

“I’m eager to work with colleagues in the clinical departments at the College of Medicine to develop new programs and continuously improve the quality of care that is offered through UC Physicians. Our goal will be to increasingly enhance the health of the Cincinnati community and the Tristate region through services that are fully responsive to the needs and expectations of our patients and their families,” Boat said.

A pediatric pulmonologist by training, Boat worked early in his career to define the pathophysiology of airway dysfunction and develop more effective therapies for chronic lung diseases of childhood, such as cystic fibrosis.

Boat joined Cincinnati Children's in 1993, after serving as chairman of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Previously, he was co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland.

Boat is a member of the Institute of Medicine. He has been chair of the American Board of Pediatrics and president of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs. Boat is a past president of the American Pediatric Society, and is a recipient of the St. Geme Award from the Federation of Pediatric Organizations.