Dear Fellow Members of the Gold Community,
We are pleased to share with you that Kathleen Reeves, MD, FAAP, a groundbreaking humanistic leader in medical education and urban bioethics, has been named the next President & CEO of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation. Dr. Reeves is Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban Health and Population Science, Director of the Center for Urban Bioethics, and Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. She will start her new position on July 1, 2023.
Dr. Reeves will succeed Richard I. Levin, MD, who is completing a remarkable 12-year tenure as President and CEO this summer. This appointment concludes a wide-ranging search begun by the Trustees last year and led by Gold Trustee and Secretary Wayne J. Riley, MD.
Our search focused on finding a true humanist with deep expertise in healthcare, with innovative ideas and the courage necessary in our challenging times, and with proven success in sustaining high-impact initiatives through funding and collaboration. In Dr. Reeves, we believe we have found a leader rooted in our values of humanism who can guide the Gold Foundation to its next chapter of even greater growth and impact.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Reeves has been an exceptional leader at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, where she has served in multiple roles, including Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs and inaugural Senior Associate Dean for the Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
She is the Founding Director of the Center for Urban Bioethics, a pioneer in its field with a vision of health equity across all urban communities. According to the Center, “’Urban’ refers to spaces characterized by density, diversity, and disparities. ‘Bioethics’ helps us describe what minoritized populations experience as we shine a spotlight on the health inequities to which society has become desensitized. When considered together, ‘Urban Bioethics’ reflects the Center’s belief that health disparities are, at their core, fundamentally unethical.” She has guided the Center from its earliest days to a sustained and successful position now with more than 50 faculty and staff working to move the mission forward.
And, to our great delight, Dr. Reeves stood out further among the candidates because she is, like you, a member of the Gold community. She was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society as a faculty member in 2013, and she has served as a GHHS Chapter Advisor at Temple. In 2018, she was named an Honorable Mention in the Gold Foundation’s prestigious Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Humanism in Healthcare Award for her work with urban communities and violence prevention.
She is already part of the Gold Foundation. She lives our mission, as you do, in the work she chooses to do and the compassion she brings to all of her roles.
As a board-certified pediatrician, Dr. Reeves is deeply committed to her patients and humanistic care for all. After she assumes the role of Gold Foundation President and CEO, she will continue, on a limited basis, to care for her young patients as a pediatric hospitalist at Temple, maintaining that essential bond that we believe is at the heart of healthcare. She will also maintain her faculty appointment in the Department of Urban Health and Population Science and in the Center for Urban Bioethics.
Throughout her career, Dr. Reeves has distinguished herself as an advocate for patients who are marginalized and as an exceptional collaborator. She has served on multiple committees within the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), a close partner of the Gold Foundation. She is passionate about curbing gun violence and serves, as a Governor appointee, on the Pennsylvania School Safety and Security Committee.
Her research spans such topics as COVID-19 vaccine deliberation, buprenorphine treatment through mobile care for people experiencing homelessness, trauma-informed programs in public housing, examinations of physicians’ roles in responding to gun violence, and teaching urban bioethics through humanities. She has secured multi-million-dollar funding grants from an array of sources, including the National Institutes of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Department of Justice, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
We believe that Dr. Reeves is the perfect candidate to lead the Gold Foundation into the next critical era. We are excited for her tenure and our work ahead together to ensure humanism in healthcare for all.
On behalf of the Trustees, we extend our gratitude to the members of the Gold Foundation Presidential Search Committee. Dr. Richard Levin has transformed the Gold Foundation during his 12 years of leadership in exceptional ways, and in Dr. Reeves, we have found a similarly visionary leader to guide the Gold Foundation in a historic time when humanism in healthcare is as essential as ever. Please join us in warmly welcoming Dr. Reeves.
Sincerely,
Richard C. Sheerr
Chair, Board of Trustees
Wayne J. Riley, MD
Chair, Search Committee & Secretary, Board of Trustees
Read the announcement about Dr. Kathleen Reeves’ appointment as Gold Foundation President & CEO
