Press Release

June 27, 2006
Contact: Anna Farneski
Phone: (973) 972-3000
farnesam@umdnj.edu

UMDNJ Board of Trustees Welcomes Two New Members
Harold T. Shapiro, Mary Ann Christopher Sworn In

NEWARK — The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Board of Trustees swore in two new members today. Former president of Princeton University, Harold T. Shapiro, and Mary Ann Christopher, president and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of New Jersey, took the oath at today's regular meeting.

“We are delighted to welcome Harold Shapiro and Mary Ann Christopher to UMDNJ,” said Board Chairman Robert Del Tufo. “Both are busy, exceptional and accomplished individuals whose talents and experience shall serve the board well in discharging its responsibility to oversee the affairs of the University.

“Their appointment demonstrates, again, the Governor’s commitment to the University, and to his intention only to appoint to the board those who are accomplished and committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and transparency for the University. Their contributions will undoubtedly be invaluable.”

Gov. Jon S. Corzine appointed the two.

“I am very pleased to join the board and I’m very hopeful that I will be able to contribute as we move the University forward,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro served as Princeton University's 18th president, and holds a faculty appointment as a professor of economics and public affairs. He also served as president of the University of Michigan, after serving on the faculty there for 24 years as a professor of economics and public policy.

A trustee of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (where he serves as Chair of the Board), Shapiro also serves as a director of the Dow Chemical Company, HCA, The Hastings Center, DeVry, Inc., Reading is Fundamental, Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, Merck Vaccine Advisory Board, U. S. Olympic Committee, Princeton HealthCare Systems, the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research, and is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is also a Trustee of the American Jewish Committee and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He served as chair of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on the Organizational Structure of the National Institute of Health from July 2002-July 2003.

From July 1996 to October 2001 Shapiro served as chair of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, which issued six major reports in the period 1996-2001. From 1990 to 1992, Shapiro served as a member and vice chair of President Bush's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Along with William G. Bowen, his predecessor as President of Princeton, Shapiro edited Universities and Their Leadership (Princeton University Press, 1998), a compilation of papers presented at Princeton’s 250th Anniversary Conference on Higher Education in March 1996. His latest book, A Larger Sense of Purpose, is based on the 2003 Clark Kerr lectures (Princeton University Press, 2005). He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Philosophical Society and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the European Academy of Sciences, and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Shapiro received his bachelor's degree from McGill University in 1956; he earned his Ph.D. from Princeton. His fields of special interest included econometrics, mathematical economics, science policy, the evolution of higher education as a social institution, and, more recently bioethics.

Christopher, a nurse for 27 years, said she was honored by the state State’s confirmation, and shares the Governor’s commitment to UMDNJ.

“UMDNJ has a unique opportunity to touch countless lives for the better in our State. Whether it is through eliminating unacceptable health disparities in our communities, defining state-of-the-art health care priorities, or preparing a new generation of health care professionals, there are extraordinary challenges that must be met,” she said. “ I believe strongly that UMDNJ can, and must, lead the effort in meeting them."

Christopher is President and Chief Executive Officer of Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey (VNACJ), a community based organization, which provides comprehensive care to individuals and families in Monmouth and Middlesex Counties and contiguous counties. The VNACJ is the largest Visiting Nurse Association in the State of New Jersey and among the largest in the nation, with 1,000 employees serving over 100,000 individuals each year.

During her tenure at VNACJ, Christopher has spearheaded the organization’s growth as a leading provider of homecare, hospice and community-based services, and has become a leading voice on a wide range of health care issues facing our State. She recently served as President of the Home Care Association of New Jersey and is a member of the Executive Advisory Committee to the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services.

A Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the Nurse Executive Program at the Wharton School, and the Public Health Leadership Institute of the Centers for Disease Control, Christopher serves on a number of commissions and boards, including The Advisory Council of Seton Hall University College of Nursing. She also serves as Chairman of the Monmouth County Human Services Advisory Committee, and is a charter member of the Advisory Committee on Aging for the Diocese of Trenton.

Christopher earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Fairfield University and a Master of Science Degree in Nursing from Seton Hall University.

UMDNJ is the nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students. UMDNJ operates the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network.