Leadership Bios
Robert P. Kelch, M.D.
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
University of Michigan Health System
Dr. Robert P. Kelch oversees the components of the U-M Health System: the Hospitals and Health Centers, U-M Medical School and the U-M School of Nursing.
Dr. Kelch has defined a strategic direction for the U-M Health System that is guided by seven basic principles: Integration, Collaboration and Teamwork; Innovation, Adaptation and Prioritization; Growth and Investment; Taking Care of Our Own; Cultural Competency; High Value and Fiscal Soundness; and Integrity and Trust. His vision remains true to the Health System’s mission to improve the health of patients, populations and communities through excellence in education, patient care, community service, research and technology development, and through leadership activities in Michigan, nationally and internationally. He believes that, as a top institution and academic health center, it is the U-M’s responsibility to be a leader in the community, the nation and the world.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Kelch, contact Nicole Fawcett at nfawcett@umich.edu or 734-764-2220.
Theodore Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D.
Isadore Lampe Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology
University of Michigan Health System
Dr. Theodore Lawrence received a joint medical and doctoral degree from the Cornell University Medical College/Rockefeller University in New York. After completing internal medicine residency training at Stanford University Medical Center, he received specialty training at the National Cancer Institute, completing both a fellowship in medical oncology and a residency in radiation oncology. Dr. Lawrence is board certified in all three areas. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1987 and currently serves as professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Lawrence's clinical interests center on combining intensity modulated and 3-D conformal radiotherapy with new chemotherapeutic and radiosensitizing agents in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. His laboratory research interests include chemotherapeutic and molecularly targeted agents as radiosensitizers, and gene therapy. Dr. Lawrence is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, and past president and chairman of the board of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. He is also a former board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and current chair of the Board of Scientific Councilors of the National Cancer Institute.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Lawrence, contact Nicole Fawcett at nfawcett@umich.edu or 734-764-2220.
Nancy M. Schlichting
President and Chief Executive Officer
Henry Ford Health System
Nancy M. Schlichting is president and chief executive officer of the Henry Ford Health System. Schlichting previously served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for the system and was responsible for its hospitals, community care services, hospital joint ventures, physician practice development, and integrated support services. In addition, she served as the president and chief executive officer of Henry Ford Hospital and was responsible for the operation of the Detroit Campus, which includes the hospital and the ambulatory services. Schlichting earned her bachelor’s in public policy studies degree from Duke University where she graduated magna cum laude. She received her Masters in Business Administration in Hospital Administration and Accounting from Cornell University. Schlichting served her Administrative Residency at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and her Administrative Fellowship at the American Hospital Association/Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. She has also completed a Healthier Communities Fellowship with the Health Care Forum.
To schedule an interview with Schlichting, contact Dwight Angell at dangell1@hfhs.org or 313-876-8709.
Benjamin Movsas, M.D.
Chair of Radiation Oncology
Henry Ford Hospital
An honor’s graduate of Harvard College and Washington University School of Medicine, Dr. Movsas trained at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Prior to joining Henry Ford, he was vice-chair of Radiation Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, one of the first comprehensive cancer centers funded by the NIH.
Dr. Movsas is a leader in multi-center clinical studies which bring research breakthroughs to the bedside. He has been the principal investigator of many cooperative trials in radiation oncology, with a special interest in tumors of the lung, prostate and central nervous system.
Currently, he serves as chairman of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Quality of Life Committee and chairman of the National Patterns of Care Lung Committee within the American College of Radiology. He is in high demand as a lecturer and has been consistently listed as a top doctor both regionally and nationally.
The Department of Radiation Oncology is part of the Josephine Ford Cancer Center at Henry Ford Health System.
John C. Ruckdeschel, M.D.
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
Detroit, Michigan
John C. Ruckdeschel, M.D. is president and chief executive officer of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Cancer Center, as well as associate dean of cancer affairs at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. The Karmanos Cancer Institute is among 41 comprehensive cancer centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Since joining the Institute in October 2002, Dr. Ruckdeschel has achieved dramatic success on the organization’s strategic goals. As principal investigator of the Institute’s NCI core grant, he strengthened and reorganized the Institute’s research programs and administration leading, in 2004, to the best site visit score in its 26-year history as an NCI-designated center. This resulted in a five-year renewal of the prestigious comprehensive designation as well as a four-fold increase in yearly NCI funding. In 2005, Dr. Ruckdeschel completed negotiations with the DMC to enable the Institute to acquire the patient care facilities the Institute had managed with the DMC for more than a decade. The Institute assumed independent ownership and operation of its clinical programs and facilities on December 1, 2005 - the most significant clinical development in the Institute's 65-year history.
An internationally recognized lung cancer physician and researcher who is consistently placed on the America's Top Doctors and Best Doctors lists, Dr. Ruckdeschel earned a B.S. in Biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and in 1971 completed his medical degree at the Albany Medical College. He interned at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, followed by a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, D.C. He completed his residency at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital in 1976.
Dr. Ruckdeschel is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, has written or co-written more than 350 publications, book chapters and abstracts, made over 250 invited presentations and has three active, as well as four pending, research grant awards. His clinical and research interests focus on lung cancer and behavioral oncology with a focus on patient-physician communication. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians as well as the American College of Chest Physicians and has served as a consultant to the National Cancer Institute and several university cancer centers. He chairs the external advisory boards for the Wake Forest, University of Texas at San Antonio and Penn State cancer centers.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Ruckdeschel, contact Patricia Ellis at ellisp@karmanos.org
or 313-576-8629.