FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For More Information Contact:

Melanie Otero, The Waters Pelton Organization, Inc. (561) 626-0026 x 11 or (305) 321-6447

Jennifer Martinez, The Waters Pelton Organization, Inc. (561) 626-0026 x 19 or (561) 301-4998

 Director of Florida Public Health Institute to speak about one-of-a-kind collaboration among four leading academic institutions to offer children specialized healthcare services under one roof.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL—Claude Earl Fox, MD, MPH, has been appointed by University of Miami President Donna Shalala to deliver the keynote address at the public launch of the $12.5 million campaign for the Palm Healthcare Pavilion and Mollie Wilmot Children’s Center on April 12, 2007 at 11:30 am at 5205 Greenwood Avenue, West Palm Beach (adjacent to St. Mary’s Hospital).  Dr. Fox is the director of the Florida Public Health Institute and a research professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, one of four leading South Florida academic institutions who will partner to offer comprehensive services to children with special healthcare needs at the future Palm Healthcare Pavilion. 

Dr. Fox, one of the country's leading experts in public health who has headed federal, state and local agencies in a nearly three-decade career dedicated to equal access to health care, will talk about the uniqueness and importance of the Pavilion’s academic and healthcare partners coming together to provide special needs children and their families state-of-the-art care.  The University of Miami and Palm Beach Community College will partner to develop the Pavilion’s Patient Safety Center and Mobile Sim-Lab Unit.  Other Pavilion partners include: Florida Atlantic University Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Gregory School of Pharmacy at Palm Beach Atlantic University who will co-manage the Diabetes Center for Prevention, Education, Management and Research; Children’s Medical Services, State of Florida Department of Health,  School District of Palm Beach County; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

“Palm Healthcare Foundation is honored to have such a devoted leader in healthcare services and children’s health issues reinforce the importance of collaboration to provide comprehensive care,” said Suzette W. Wexner.  “Dr. Fox understands from a national and local level how significant a project like the Pavilion is to improving access and quality of care for children affected by cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and other chronic diseases, who often have multiple special healthcare needs.”

University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala, with whom Dr. Fox worked closely in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recruited Fox for his position at the university and appointed him as director of the Florida Public Health Institute, a center of excellence for public health in Palm Beach County. The institute is a joint effort among a number of academic institutions, the state Department of Health, and the Palm Beach County Department of Health.

Prior to joining the University of Miami, Dr. Fox was the first permanent director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute and Public Health Professor of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Before joining Hopkins, Dr. Fox served as the Administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. While the administrator for HRSA Dr. Fox also co-chaired the departmental policy committee for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. From November 1995 to March 1997, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Before that, he served as HHS regional health administrator in Philadelphia, overseeing federal health and human service programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia. He was Alabama's state health officer from 1986 to 1992 and Mississippi's deputy state health officer from 1983 to 1986. He has also served as President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

To RSVP for the public launch event on April 12^th, please call Palm Healthcare Foundation at 561-833-6333.

Note:  Claude Earl Fox will replace Donna Shalala as keynote speaker as previously scheduled.

About Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc.
Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. was chartered in 2001 as an independent community healthcare foundation. Believing that “Together We Can Do More,” the foundation’s mission is to transform healthcare challenges by bringing together the talents and resources of the community to create innovative solutions that deliver high-impact results. The Foundation’s funding priorities—access to healthcare, healthcare quality and safety, healthcare technology, healthcare policy and healthcare workforce—are designed to empower non-profit healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals to create programs and services that improve the quality of life for Palm Beach County’s underserved citizens.  Since 2001, the Foundation has distributed more than $14 million to over 70 non-profit organizations in Palm Beach County operating over 130 programs that met its funding goals.  To learn more about Palm Healthcare Foundation, please visit www.palmhealthcare.org.