21 Facts About Bernadine Healy

Bernadine Patricia Healy was an American cardiologist and the first female director of the National Institutes of Health.

Bernadine Healy was president of both the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association.

Bernadine Healy's parents stressed the importance of education and she excelled at her studies.

Bernadine Healy then went on to Harvard Medical School, on full scholarship, and was one of only ten women out of 120 students in her class.

In 1985 Bernadine Healy left Washington and moved to Cleveland where she became chair of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute and practiced cardiology.

Bernadine Healy headed the NIH advisory board for another multi-center clinical study that showed that statins could slow the course of atherosclerosis in coronary artery bypass grafts.

Bernadine Healy was recruited away from Ohio State to become president and CEO of the American Red Cross in late 1999, succeeding Elizabeth Dole.

Bernadine Healy advocated withholding dues from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for not allowing Israel's Red Cross society to join the international body without adopting the cross or crescent as its symbol.

Bernadine Healy departed the organization as president on December 31,2001.

Bernadine Healy served as chairman of the White House Cabinet Group on Biotechnology, executive secretary of the White House Science Council's Panel on the Health of Universities, and a member of several advisory groups on developing government-wide guidelines for research in human subjects and for the humane treatment of animals in research.

The WHI study was conceived and designed by Bernadine Healy and remains the largest randomized clinical trial in history to involve only women, studying the effects of specific prevention strategies on major causes of death and disability in women after menopause.

In 1994, Bernadine Healy was a Republican candidate to represent Ohio in the US Senate.

Bernadine Healy ran in the GOP primary and came in second in a four-person race.

Bernadine Healy served as professor and dean of the College of Medicine from 1995 to 1999.

Bernadine Healy's efforts led to the medical school's designation as a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health.

Bernadine Healy served on numerous medical advisory committees and boards over her career.

Bernadine Healy participated briefly on an advisory board of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, and served on numerous advisory groups and boards of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, where she was an outspoken critic of smoking and its effects on the cardiovascular system.

Over her career Bernadine Healy served as a medical commentator and consultant for CBS, PBS and MSNBC, and made numerous appearances on CNN, C-SPAN and Fox News Channel.

Bernadine Healy became the focus of controversy when she questioned the 2004 finding of the Institute of Medicine that the evidence refuting a link between childhood vaccinations and autism was conclusive.

Bernadine Healy had another daughter, Bartlett Bulkley, from her previous marriage.

Bernadine Healy died on August 6,2011, in Gates Mills, Ohio, ending a 13-year illness with brain cancer.