Bernadine Healy, author of the "On Health" column and health editor for U.S. News & World Report, is a Harvard- and Hopkins-trained cardiologist and past director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she started the Women's Health Initiative.  She is currently a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a leader in patient care research and education. 

Dr. Healy received her M.D. cum laude from Harvard Medical School and completed her internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  She spent two years at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH before returning to Hopkins, where she rose to full professor while carrying out significant administrative responsibilities.  In 1985, she was deputy science advisor to President Ronald Reagan and was appointed head of the Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where she remained until she was appointed director of NIH in 1991.  Dr. Healy has served as president of the American Heart Association and a member of numerous national advisory committees.  Her awards include:  two American Heart Association special awards for service and the 1992 Dana Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award for promotion of research on women's health problems.  Dr. Healy is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.