Samuel Thier, MD, who served president and CEO of Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham from 1996 to 2002, died Jan. 3. He was 88.
Dr. Thier was also president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Medicine — now known as the National Academy of Medicine — 1985 to 1991, according to a Jan. 5 statement from the academy.
Before becoming the health system’s first president and later president and CEO, he was president of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, according to a Jan. 5 message from current President and CEO Anne Klibanski, MD, that was shared with Becker’s.
A nephrologist by training, Dr. Thier was a teacher who combined clinical excellence with a commitment to leadership, education, policy and research, Dr. Klibanski said.
“Generations of physicians and scientists benefited from his counsel, high standards and generosity of time,” she said. “Many of the people he taught now carry forward his approach: put patients first, advance science and support one another.”
Dr. Thier also helped shape modern nephrology at Massachusetts General and revitalized programs at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. During his tenure at the National Academy of Medicine, the organization addressed urgent public health issues, including work that informed the nation’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“Colleagues remember his insistence on integrity and his steady focus on patients, trainees and the responsibilities of academic medicine to society. Those values continue to animate our work,” Dr. Klibanski said. “I invite you to reflect on the examples he set — intellectual honesty, curiosity and a belief that our collective work can improve lives.”
