Edward M. Hundert
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Edward M. Hundert, M.D. is a nationally known scholar, educator, psychiatrist, and medical ethicist who was president of Case Western Reserve University, a renowned research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Hundert announced on the evening of March 15, 2006, that he would resign as president of the University effective June 1st, 2006, when he was replaced by Gregory Eastwood. Hundert is and has been a leader in developing innovative and effective learning experiences in higher education.
Prior to coming to Case, President Hundert was Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities and Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Rochester, serving there from 1997 to 2002. His academic career earlier included service on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, where he held appointments in the departments of psychiatry and medical ethics from 1984 to 1997. He also served seven years as Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Harvard. President Hundert's pioneering research on the "informal curriculum" in medical education helped shape the national discussion of professionalism in medicine. For six consecutive years he was voted the "faculty member who did the most for the class" by Harvard Medical School graduates.
During his tenure at Rochester, where he also served as Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, President Hundert led the school's faculty and students in creating the "Double Helix Curriculum," a sweeping integration of the basic and clinical sciences across the four-year medical school experience. He also led the development of a new facility for the school that is designed around this innovative curriculum.
President Hundert received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and the history of science and medicine, summa cum laude, in 1978 from Yale University, earning the Russell Henry Chittenden Prize to "the graduating senior with highest standing in mathematics and the natural sciences." He attended Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar, earning a master's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and receiving the George Batterby Prize for the highest "First Class Honours" in this field. Four years later he earned the M.D. from Harvard Medical School, where he was awarded the Sirgay Sanger Prize for excellence in psychiatric research. He then completed a psychiatric residency at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., a Harvard affiliate, where he was named chief resident and received numerous fellowships and prizes. At each level of his education he was recognized for outstanding performance.
He has written numerous articles and chapters on a variety of topics in psychiatry, philosophy, medical ethics and medical education, as well as two books: Philosophy, Psychiatry and Neuroscience: Three Approaches to the Mind (Oxford University Press, 1989), and Lessons from an Optical Illusion: On Nature and Nurture, Knowledge and Values (Harvard University Press, 1995).
[edit] No-confidence vote
Faculty at the College of Arts and Sciences concerned about the Case's budget deficit and an alleged lack of transparency in the administration built support for a no-confidence vote against Dr. Hundert.
The vote was held on March 2, with a final tally of 131-44 for no confidence in the president.
The no-confidence vote was not binding, as only the board of trustees had the power to cancel Dr. Hundert's contract. However, Dr. Hundert submitted his resignation two weeks after the vote. Generally speaking, most members of the University were relieved by Hundert's resignation. Dr. Hundert received $1.5 million in compensation for one remaining year left in his contract and his optional sabbatical after he tendered his resignation.
