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Jay Noren, M.D., M.P.H. |
Dr. Noren has been serving as executive vice president, provost, and dean of the graduate college of the University of Nebraska since 2002. Dr. Noren’s appointment is pending Board of Regent approval Friday of UNMC’s proposal to start a College of Public Health.
“Dr. Noren has been involved in public health throughout his career. We couldn’t have a better person at the helm, as we launch this new college,” said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor. “Jay truly has a passion for public health. He understands the important role the college will play in helping Nebraska address the many aspects of public health. We’re excited to add him to the UNMC leadership team.”
As provost, Dr. Noren was the second highest-ranking position in the University of Nebraska system behind only the president. He served as the university’s chief academic officer and principal deputy to the president. When the president was absent, he served as acting president.
“I’m honored to be asked to serve as founding dean of the College of Public Health,” Dr. Noren said. “I know the tremendous potential the new college will have to truly make a difference for all the citizens of Nebraska. Dr. Maurer is building something special at the medical center. It is a thrill for me to be on the ground floor as we watch this new college take shape.”
“When you consider the prominence of public health issues and their importance to Nebraska, the addition of the College of Public Health makes perfect sense,” said James B. Milliken, University of Nebraska president. “The college will bring together experts from all four campuses of the university, and having served as provost these past four years, Dr. Noren has a strong knowledge of each of the campuses that should serve him well. He will provide important guidance as founding dean, as he helps to launch this exciting new venture.”
A native of Minnesota, Dr. Noren earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University. In addition, he completed three research fellowships in public health, first at the Harvard Center for Community Health and Medical Care, then as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences, and finally as a Winston Churchill Fellow in England and Scotland.
Dr. Noren did his graduate and post-graduate work in health policy, health services research, preventive medicine, public health and internal medicine at Harvard, the University of Vermont and Michigan State University.
He served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Preventive Medicine from 1976 to 1998. Dr. Noren was vice chancellor for health sciences at Wisconsin for eight years and served as director of the Center for Health Policy and Program Evaluation for 10 years. He also served as a visiting faculty member at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
For two years (1993 to 1995), he took leave from Wisconsin to serve as interim chancellor for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. In this position, he was responsible for merging three separate higher education systems into a single system, comprised of 62 campuses, 163,000 students, 21,000 faculty and staff and an $850 million annual budget.
In 1999, he was appointed founding president of the newly created University Health Science Center at Texas A&M University, also serving as vice chancellor for health affairs. In this position, he was charged with integrating five colleges and satellite campuses in seven separate state locations into one organization.
At Texas A&M, he also held faculty appointments as professor in the George Bush School of Government and Public Service, the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and the Department of Public Health Sciences. In 2001, he was named director of the Health Workforce Project, National Institute of Health Policy.
Since joining the University of Nebraska in 2002, Dr. Noren has had responsibility for university oversight of all new and existing academic programs, including residential and distance delivery. He is the liaison with the board of regents on academic policy and has had central responsibility for programmatic aspects of annual and biennial budget development and analysis and the state-funded Nebraska Research Initiative.
“The addition of the College of Public Health will complement several existing strengths at UNMC,” said Rubens Pamies, M.D., UNMC vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies. “It will be a great benefit for the entire state. Having worked with Dr. Noren, I know how thrilled he is to see the College of Public Health come to fruition. It’s a unique challenge, and I know Jay will do a wonderful job.”
An active researcher throughout his career, Dr. Noren has been awarded more than 25 grants, published more than 40 papers in science and health journals and been a contributor on three books. He has been an invited lecturer at nearly 50 conferences and symposiums.