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Thomas Q. Morris |
As leader of the committee searching for a worthy successor to Dr. Jeremiah A. Barondess, Morris is guiding NYAM into the future at a pivotal moment in time. The new President will be expected to continue NYAM's mission of improving urban health through research and education, but also to shape NYAM into a more vocal advocate regarding health issues of the day and help it to “reach a new level,” Morris said.
“Board members broadly are interested in the Academy taking positions on topics . . . and advocating for them,” he said. “There’s a mood that we should be more active in stating where we stand and why we stand there.”
Morris, who spent nearly 50 years at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in a spectrum of high-level leadership roles— including President and CEO of The Presbyterian Hospital—was actually among the first staffers chosen by Dr. Barondess in 1990. He is no stranger to NYAM, having also served on the Board in the late 1980s and as a member of the search committee that selected Dr. Barondess as NYAM's first full-time president 16 years ago. “This is once more with feeling,” he joked of his recurrent search role.
As NYAM's Vice President for Programs through 1994, Morris helped to reinvigorate the then-sleepy institution by helping to create one of NYAM's most prolific research divisions, the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies. Though Morris relinquished his board seat in 1990 to comply with bylaws that blocked NYAM staff from serving as trustees, he was re-elected in 2003 and was an obvious choice for Chairman when Dr. Jack Barchas’s eight years of service ended in December.
“I have roots in the Academy – I think it’s a great place, with great people, a great mission – and it’s a great opportunity,” Morris said in a recent interview, a few doors down from his old NYAM office. “So I agreed to take on the responsibility.”
Morris is quite schooled at leading New York City institutions through periods of change, having held a number of top-level “interim” posts over the years. “My friends said I couldn’t hold a steady job,” he quipped in his unassuming style. These positions include Acting Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons (known as P&S), from which he earned his MD degree in 1958, Acting Director of the Medical Service at The Presbyterian Hospital, and Interim Dean for Clinical and Educational Affairs at P&S.
“It’s always a delicate time,” Morris said of transition periods, “because I think that the staff is in a constant state of wondering what’s going on and who is possibly going to emerge as the leader. In order to run a search process which has integrity, you have to have a totally confidential process. So it becomes a rather mysterious enterprise.” Finding an inspiring and accomplished leader who is a proper fit for NYAM has been challenging. “It’s always difficult to replace someone who’s really transformed an institution and moved it in a totally different direction,” he said.
Morris’s experiences at Presbyterian Hospital, which included leading the construction of the Milstein Hospital Building, should serve him in good stead as NYAM considers another part of its future: that of its physical self. The board’s Building Committee has begun a broad exploration of potential options for expansion. Morris called the possibilities “unlimited.” “We have not only the physical ground space within the parking area, but the air rights are great, not only in size but in value,” he said. “Maximizing the value and the benefit of the property we have here is certainly on the minds of the trustees, and it’s a serious consideration.”
Morris and his wife, Jacqueline, live on a farm 160 miles north of Manhattan with about a dozen heifers, a pet horse and donkey, and several German Shepards, cats, and ducks. Morris harvests hay and builds stone walls in his spare time, but where he finds spare time is anyone’s guess. He is Chairman of three active Boards: NYAM's; that of the American University of Beirut, where he’s been a trustee since 1985; and that of The Mary Imogene Hospital in Cooperstown, a 180-bed acute care hospital near his home.
It may just be too difficult to stop working after leading such a rich and challenging career. In addition to his aforementioned positions, Morris has served as Vice Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine, Vice President for Health Sciences, and Professor of Clinical Medicine at P&S. The college pays tribute to Morris’s vast contributions by hosting an annual Dr. Thomas Q. Morris Symposium, begun upon his 2003 retirement.
“Being chair of a few boards at the same time is probably more than I should do, but I find it interesting and rewarding,” Morris said, noting that lessons learned from each experience are mutually beneficial. As a new President settles into office, no doubt that Morris’s experiences as Chairman will grow more interesting still.
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