Dr. Noren a candidate for Detroit university presidency

Jay Noren, M.D.

Jay Noren, M.D., founding dean of the UNMC College of Public Health, has been selected as the final candidate in the search for a new president at Wayne State University in Detroit.

The university’s board of governors will gather Wednesday to consider Dr. Noren’s candidacy.

UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said the news regarding Dr. Noren elicits a bittersweet reaction.

“Dr. Noren has played a critical role in promoting public health in Nebraska and been a key figure in the development of the UNMC College of Public Health,” Dr. Maurer said. “While I am proud to see Dr. Noren named a candidate for this prestigious position, I would be sad to see him leave UNMC.”

Wayne State University is the 31st largest university in the United States with a student body of 33,000 students, including 14,000 graduate students. It also is home to the largest single-site medical school campus in the country and is considered the premiere U.S. urban research institute.

Dr. Noren was named founding dean of the UNMC College of Public Health in July 2006.

Under his leadership the college has seen its faculty grow to nearly 30 full-time members, enacted several academic programs and secured funds to construct a College of Public Health Building on UNMC’s Omaha campus.

His time as founding dean of the College of Public Health has been among the most satisfying and exciting of his career, Dr. Noren said.

“I’ve been amazed with the enthusiasm and collaborative spirit that radiates from the UNMC campus,” Dr. Noren said. “It’s a big part of what makes this place special.”

While he is thrilled to be a candidate at Wayne State, his excitement is tempered somewhat by the timing.

“I’ve been amazed with the enthusiasm and collaborative spirit that radiates from the UNMC campus. It’s a big part of what makes this place special.” Jay Noren, M.D.

“Unfortunately, we can’t dictate when opportunity will knock,” Dr. Noren said. “I would have preferred such an opportunity arise later as opposed to now when there is so much left to do to develop the College of Public Health. But this opportunity is so exciting, I simply must pursue it.”

Before his term as dean, Dr. Noren served as executive vice president, provost and dean of the graduate college of the University of Nebraska. As provost, Dr. Noren held 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.

The Minnesota native 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.