Courage Center CEO Brings Vision to Our Community
by
Lance Hegland
After graduating from high school in the seventies, Jan Malcolm
aspired to become a physician. She enrolled in the newly co-ed Dartmouth
College only the second year after the school began admitting women.
Malcolm chose Dartmouth for its very rich history in both premed
and physician programs. She started her studies of psychology and
philosophy during a time of social, economic, and political changes.
It was a turbulent time, but it was an exciting time that made an
everlasting impression that shaped progressive leaders.
Toward the end of her undergraduate
studies, she seized the opportunity for premed students to attend
courses at the medical school. She studied public health and health-care
economics. After graduating with honors and receiving a liberal
arts degree, she accepted a job at a health policy “think
tank” called InterStudy, which
was headed by Dr. Paul Ellwood who had formerly been the executive
director of the Sister Kenny Institute. She intended to work a year
or so, then apply to medical school. The field of healthcare policy
was maturing and she was on the frontlines. In the growing field
of managed care, there were no formal courses to prepare workers—just
on-the-job training. Soon, she was one of the few recognized managed-care
professionals and a budding health-care policy leader.
She worked her way to become the senior vice president of government
programs and public policy at Health Partners, and then the system
vice president for public affairs at Allina. During these years,
she joined the boards of several non-profit organizations, including
Courage Center and United Way.
Later, newly-elected Governor Ventura
requested she serve as Commissioner of Health for the State of
Minnesota. For the next four years, she was responsible for directing
the state’s lead public health
agency, the Minnesota Department of Health. In this role, she oversaw
the protection, maintenance, and improvement of health for all Minnesotans
through programs in disease prevention and control, health promotion,
community public health, environmental health, maternal and child
health, bioterrorism, emergency preparedness, health care policy,
and regulation of healthcare providers. She led a staff of 1,200
and oversaw an annual budget of approximately $400 million.
As Commissioner, Malcolm co-chaired
the cabinet-level Health Policy Council and chaired the Governor’s
Joint Task Force on Health Care Costs and Quality. She served on
the executive committee of the National Association of State and
Territorial Health Officers. She was active in the National Academy
of State Health Policy and was a member of the Institute of Medicine’s
committee on enhancing the federal government’s role in health
care quality improvement.
After her tenure as Commissioner,
she joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a senior program
officer providing counsel on public health initiatives. The Foundation
is the nation’s largest
philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health of all Americans
by working with, and providing funding for, numerous organizations
and individuals engaged in various public health projects.
Early this year, Malcolm was chosen as the new Chief Executive Officer
of Courage Center. She brings a wealth of healthcare policy and stakeholder
relations experience to, not only Courage Center, but our local disability
community as well. Her previous work provided her a very broad overview
of overall healthcare policies, programs, and trends.
She will be moving closer to the “front
lines” of healthcare
delivery, particularly those products, services, and programs empowering
individuals experiencing the effects of disability and aging as they
reach for their full potential in every aspect of life. Malcolm said, “We
are guided by the vision that one day, all people will live, work,
learn and play in a community based on abilities not disabilities.” More
importantly, she will have the opportunity to share and provide insight
while working with Courage Center’s Executive Management Team
to evolve and implement its strategic direction and business model,
which are her strengths. During the next few years, the Center will
continue stepping up to the challenge to expand services and further
define itself within the health-care arena in the face of rising
healthcare costs and tighter personal, public, and corporate financial
resources.
