IOM honors Omenn with medal

Faculty member Gilbert Omenn received the Walsh McDermott Medal for distinguished service Oct. 13 from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) at the organization's annual meeting.

Since his election to the IOM in 1979, Omenn has been an enthusiastic and outgoing contributor to the institute's work on multiple levels, IOM officials say. He has served as a member of the IOM Council and of the National Research Council's Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, serving as its chair from 1982-88.

Omenn has chaired numerous activities, including the Committee on Evaluation of Selected Federal Health Care Quality Activities, which wrote the report "Leadership by Example: Coordinating Government Roles in Improving Health Care Quality," part of IOM's health care quality series. And since 2001 he has been a member of the Report Review Committee.

Omenn is professor of internal medicine, human genetics and public health, and director of the Center for Computation Medicine and Biology. He also served as executive vice president for medical affairs from 1997-2002.

Prior to coming to U-M, he served as dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. He was associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget during the Carter administration, and was chairman of the Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management in 1994-97.

Omenn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton, an M.D. from Harvard and a doctorate in genetics from the University of Washington.

Nominations for IOM membership awards are solicited from the organization's members and staff. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, IOM is both an honorific and advisory organization that provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector and the public.

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