Press Release

Vicki Seltzer to Lead AHA's Section for Maternal and Child Health

Contact:
Matthew Fenwick, AHA - (312) 422-2820
David Allen, AHA - (202) 626-2313

Washington D.C.

Vicki L. Seltzer, M.D., vice president for Women's Health Services at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, N.Y. is the 2008 chair of the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Maternal and Child Health.  As chair, Seltzer will lead the section's governing council on public policy issues concerning women and children's health, hospitals serving that patient population and AHA member service strategies.

Seltzer is currently chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at both North Shore University Hospital and the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, two of the largest obstetrics programs in New York.  North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System provides obstetrical care for approximately 23,000 women at seven hospitals. 

Seltzer previously served as president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and was only the second woman ever to hold this elected position.  She was also president of the New York Obstetrical Society.  She has served important roles in national and international medical organizations including the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, American Medical Women's Association, Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Review Committee, Council on Graduate Medical Education and the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

Seltzer was one of the first women in the U.S. to be board certified as a subspecialist in gynecologic oncology.  She is the Edie and Marvin H. Schur Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women's Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y.

John Duval, M.B.A., chief executive officer of Medical College of Virginia Hospitals of Virginia Commonwealth University Health System in Richmond, Va., an 822-bed teaching hospital that includes more than 600 faculty physicians, is chair-elect and will assume the role of chair in 2009.  Duval received his bachelor of science in biological sciences and his masters of business administration in management from the University of California Irvine. 

Herman B. Gray, M.D., president of Children's Hospital of Michigan (CHM), a member of the Detroit Medical Center in Detroit, Mich., will join the council for a 3-year term, serving until 2010. CHM is the only free-standing children's hospital in Michigan.  Prior to becoming president Gray served as the chief operating officer at CHM.

Paula Broderick, R.N., director of Women & Children's Health Nursing at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, N.Y., is the immediate past-chair. New York Presbyterian Hospital is one of the largest and most comprehensive hospitals in New York, with over 13,000 employees and 2,200 patient beds. 

Current AHA board member Raymond Grady, president of Hospitals & Clinics Evanston Northwestern Healthcare in Evanston, Ill., was reappointed as the 2008 Board Liaison to the Council.

About AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes more than 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, and 38,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends.