The Saint Louis University School of Public Health will say goodbye this fall to a friendly face of more than 14 years.
Dr. James R. Kimmey, professor of Health Management and Policy and director of the Institute for Urban Health Policy, is moving on to bigger and better things.
“It’s just one of those positions that you can’t pass up,” Kimmey said of his new position at the Missouri Foundation for Health.
Kimmey will be the Foundation’s first chief executive and will oversee the start up of its programs that support the unmet health care needs of Missouri residents in its service area.
Kimmey will be retiring from SLU on Oct. 1, 2001.
The board for the Foundation found Kimmey after a nation-wide search.
“This is a very unusual opportunity to be part of one of Missouri’s largest foundations,” Kimmey said.
In a press release on Aug. 17, 2001, Alberta Slavin, Foundation chairwoman, shared her feelings about Kimmey joining their team.
“Jim Kimmey brings to the Foundation considerable experience in health and health care delivery. The foundation will move even more quickly and confidently toward its goal of supporting more effective and accessible health programs in the foundation’s service area,” Slavin said.
Kimmey said he could not “pass up this tremendous opportunity.”
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon established the Missouri Foundation for Health as the result of a challenge to the 1994 reorganization of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri that moved non-profit assets to RightCHOICE, a for-profit organization.
As a result of the settlement between the stat and Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the foundation received 15 million shares of RightCHOICE stock and $12.78 million in cash. The settlement requires that the stock be sold over a five-year period. “This is a chance to do something entirely new,” Kimmey said. “I can make a real impact on health care in the state of Missouri.”
The Missouri Foundation for Health prides itself as the largest health care foundation in the state. The earnings on investments will be used to support programs to improve the health of Missourians in the 85 counties and St. Louis city, the area formerly served by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri.
Governed by a 15-member volunteer board of directors made up of individuals from throughout the service area, the Foundation is a non-profit organization. The board members were selected for their expertise and their commitment to improving the health of Missouri citizens.
A community advisory committee provides input to the board selection process and to the operations of the foundation.
“I think a lot of the things that I’ve done at the University have been good preparation for this position,” Kimmey said.
He has been a faculty member and held several senior administrative posts at the University since his arrival in 1987.
Prior to 1987, Kimmey served in leadership posts in federal and state government and in the non-profit sector. He has been active in health activities in the community, and has served as the president of the local chapter of the Missouri Public Health Association and as president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Hospital Council. Kimmey currently chairs the board of St. Louis ConnectCare and is a member of the Civic Progress-initiated Ad Hoc Committee on Indigent Care, an effort that led to the recent creation of a Regional Health Commissions for St. Louis City and County.
Kimmey holds undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California in Berkley.
While Kimmey professes his enthusiasm for the new position, he said that he will miss the University. “I’m mostly going to miss the people,” he said. “There are some great people here, especially the students. But I’ve still got my season soccer and basketball tickets; I’ll keep in touch.”
