Newswise — Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill will address the graduating classes at the annual commencement exercises for Jefferson Medical College and Jefferson College of Graduate Studies.
Mr. O'Neill will receive an honorary doctor of science degree from Thomas Jefferson University during the Friday, June 1 ceremonies at 10:30 a.m. at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts on South Broad St.
The 72nd Secretary of the Treasury served in office from 2001-2002. From 1987 to 1999, he was chairman and CEO of Alcoa and retired as chairman at the end of 2000. Before joining Alcoa, Mr. O'Neill was president of International Paper Company from1985 to 1987 and served as its vice president from 1977 to 1985. Mr. O'Neill was a computer systems analyst with the U.S. Veterans Administration from 1961 to 1966 and served on the staff of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget from 1967 to 1977. From 1974 to 1977, O'Neill served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he gained a mastery of federal budget details and processes. It was also during his government service that Mr. O'Neill helped to shape many of the policies that define the current American healthcare system.
As head of a major corporation with 140,000 employees spread across 36 nations, Mr. O'Neill gained valuable insights into international finance and the global economy. His unique experience transforming an old economy firm into a financial success was chronicled in a study by the Harvard Business School and incorporated into the curriculum of business schools across the nation.
In December 1997, Mr. O'Neill and Karen Wolk Feinstein, President of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, founded the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (PRHI) to address the problems of regional healthcare. A PHRI-led collaboration in infection control brought about a 63 percent decline in one type of bloodstream infection across the region—with some hospital units virtually eliminating the infection. Regional collaboration also led to the establishment of one of the nation's largest and most robust registry of data concerning coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Cardiac teams can now glean significant data from over 10,000 cases, yielding nationally important information every day.
In 2005 Mr. O'Neill became non-executive Chairman of Value Capture, LLC, and the Value Capture Policy Institute, where he provides counsel and support to healthcare executives and policymakers who share his conviction that the value of healthcare operations can be increased by 50 percent or more through the pursuit of perfect safety and clinical outcomes. Value Capture believes American healthcare needs examples of entire healthcare institutions that are demonstrating this level of excellence across their operations " not in limited project focus areas " to learn from.
He serves as a board member to more than a dozen major corporations and non-profit organizations and is an advisor to a number of organizations including the National Academy of Social Science, RAND's Board of Health, The Blackstone Group and Eastman Kodak. The former treasury secretary received a bachelor's degree in Economics from Fresno State College in California and a master's degree in Public Administration from Indiana University.
More than 200 doctor of medicine, doctor of philosophy and master of science degrees will be conferred on students from Jefferson Medical College and the Jefferson College of Graduate Studies during the annual commencement exercises.
Founded in 1824, Jefferson Medical College has awarded more than 27,000 medical degrees and has among the most living graduates of medical schools in the nation. Jefferson offers both traditional medical education programs and innovative joint degree programs to its enrollment of approximately 900 students each year.
The Jefferson College of Graduate Studies of Thomas Jefferson University, established July 1, 1969, is responsible for the planning, operation, and administration of educational programs of Thomas Jefferson University that lead to the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. It is also responsible for stimulating, establishing, and coordinating research and post-baccalaureate educational projects that cross traditional school boundaries. Each of the PhD and MS degree programs is headed by a program director and most programs share faculty from several academic departments of the university.
Editor's Note: Marian Wright Edelman was previously identified as the keynotespeaker at commencement exercises for Jefferson Medical College and Jefferson College of Graduate Studies. She will be the speaker at the May 31 commencement exercises for the Jefferson College of Health Professions.
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