July 20, 2001 

                                                                  Contact: Amy Murray 614 292-8385

Surgeon General to speak at Ohio State commencement

1,400 to receive degrees Aug. 30

COLUMBUS – David Satcher, surgeon general of the United States and assistant secretary for health will be the speaker at The Ohio State University’s summer commencement exercises on Aug. 30.

Approximately 1,400 graduates will receive degrees during the ceremony, which begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Schottenstein Center.  Satcher also will receive an honorary doctor of science degree from the university.

This is the first commencement to be held at the Schottenstein Center.  Summer quarter ceremonies are usually held in St. John Arena, which is not air-conditioned and can be uncomfortable in late August.  Scheduling conflicts at the arena have made it impossible to use the air-conditioned facility for previous summer ceremonies.

Satcher was sworn in as the 16^th Surgeon General of the United States on Feb. 13, 1998.  His four-year term expires in February 2002.  He is only the second person in history to simultaneously hold the positions of Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health. 

This is not Satcher’s first visit to Ohio State.  He spoke to medical students and toured the OSU Medical Center’s Women’s Health Center in April 1999.

Satcher has been a champion of promoting healthy lifestyles.  He has led the Department of Health’s efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health, an initiative that was incorporated as one of the two major goals of Healthy People 2010, the nation’s health agenda for the next 10 years.  He also released Surgeon General reports on tobacco and health’ women and smoking; mental health, which was followed by a supplement on children’s mental health; suicide prevention; oral health; and youth violence prevention.

A native of Anniston, Ala., Satcher is a 1963 graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta.  He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1970.

The recipient of more than two dozen honorary degrees and distinguished honors, Satcher has been recognized for excellence by the National Medical Association, the American Medical Association and other medical and scientific academies.  He also is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine and the American College of Physicians. 

Satcher has taught at the Morehouse School of Medicine and at University of California at Los Angelos.  While at UCLA, he directed the King-Drew Sickle Cell Research Center for six years.  He also served as president of Meharry Medical College in Nashville. 

From 1993 to 1998, Satcher served as director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

(Editors note: a photo of Satcher is available by contacting Amy Murray at (614) 292-8385 or murray-goede.1@osu.edu )

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