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Jack D. Barchas |
In a recent interview, Barchas reflected on his tenure, his challenges as Chairman and the changes he steered through the Board in concert with retiring Academy President Jeremiah A. Barondess, MD. The 70-year-old psychiatrist, who has for 13 years chaired the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, has helped improve NYAM's fiscal solvency, deepen public awareness of its accomplishments, and champion millions of dollars upgrades to the physical building. His leadership was also instrumental in creating the two-year-old Office of Policy Development, which uses NYAM research findings to influence health policy improvements.
Barchas and other trustees have worked hard in recent years to diversify board membership and ultimately increase financial support for NYAM. An important shift during his tenure has been the willingness to appoint non-medical professionals to the board from fields such as finance, business and media. “Trustees from the corporate and financial sectors can give a sense of our message to people who wouldn’t otherwise be getting it,” said Barchas, who is also Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Sometimes, it takes work to get people to understand what NYAM is up to, Barchas acknowledges, since NYAM initiatives largely involve research. “We don’t have grateful patients and we don’t have grateful students, so nothing comes automatically,” Barchas said. “We’re a more abstract organization.”
With the funding stream always an issue, the Board under Barchas’s watch began reassessing the extent of fiscal support NYAM should provide to incoming researchers and division directors, compared to the amount these scientists should bring to the table through grants. “We’ve started to reexamine our assumptions about program growth and expansion and how we can do that successfully,” he said.
Barchas first joined the Board at the behest of longtime friend and colleague Claire Fagin, PhD, RN, a former NYAM trustee who had introduced him to his wife. Barchas long knew and respected Barondess: “Very few people can be truly transforming and innovative in administering a great institution like Jerry has been,” he said. He was also instantly impressed by the Trustee roster. “These are people who in their own worlds, they run the world,” said Barchas.
Barchas himself was a fabulous catch for the board. This renowned neuroscience researcher was on the team that first observed the phenomenon popularly known as “runner’s high,” in which runners’ brains manufacture higher levels of the opiate-like endorphin hormone as a way to deal with physical stress. “We considered it a trivial observation,” Barchas says with a laugh. Before moving to New York in 1993, the native Californian had a 25-year career at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and was a Dean at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Perhaps the most emotional issue that Barchas has faced as Board leader is the retirement of Dr. Barondess and the need to find a successor. “The key issue is can we now bring in another great leader?” said Barchas, who assembled and serves as a consultant to the Presidential Search Committee.
As that search continues, Barchas said he has every intention to continue promoting the good works of NYAM, although in a less official capacity. “Now, I go out and sing the praises,” he said. “I’m just another member of the chorus saying bravo, masel tov.”
Profile: Mr. William T. Golden
