May 23, 2017

OHSU School of Medicine Interim Dean John Hunter recently appointed Jennifer DeVoe, M.D., D.Phil., professor and chair of family medicine, to the John and Sherrie Saultz Endowed Professorship in Family Medicine, named for John Saultz, M.D., professor of family medicine and former department chair, and his wife.

"One of the most important things that we can do as faculty and as leaders is to empower the next generation to build on the advancements of the previous," said Dr. Hunter, who announced the honor during a May 16 family medicine faculty meeting, also attended by Dr. Saultz and Sherrie Saultz.

During his 17 years as chair of the Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Saultz led the department's rise to national prominence as innovative advocates for community health and key players in shaping Oregon's health care transformation and the concept of the primary care home, all while achieving stellar rankings for resident and medical student training. The OHSU School of Medicine family medicine education program is currently ranked number two in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

Individual faculty gifts build endowment 

To sustain and build on this impressive record, the Department of Family Medicine and OHSU raised funds to create an endowed professorship in Dr. Saultz's name. The department raised $500,000 primarily in individual faculty gifts. In addition, OHSU is committing another $500,000 to create the endowed professorship.

"The number of donors and the amount of their contributions speak to the high regard that so many have for Dr. Saultz," Dr. Hunter said. "It is also a tribute to the importance of primary care and the crucial role it plays in a sustainable health care system that ensures the best possible health outcomes for our community."

Dr. DeVoe plans to use the professorship to support the department's efforts to seek innovative ways of creating community laboratories and classrooms in places where people live and to bridge the department's research, clinical, and educational programs, especially those related to generating practice-based evidence.

A moral compass for health care

Dr. DeVoe graduated from Montana State and went on to earn her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. She was a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master's and doctoral degrees in philosophy from Oxford University. She completed her residency in family medicine at OHSU in 2004. She served as chief research officer and director of the Practice-Based Research Network at OCHIN from 2010 to 2016 and now is OCHIN's senior research advisor and principal investigator or co-investigator on multiple large, federally funded studies. She became chair of family medicine in 2016.

"Dr. DeVoe is a bona fide intellectual," Dr. Hunter said. "Yet the ivory tower was merely her means to a much larger end. She has committed her career to advocacy for the underserved. Today Dr. DeVoe is a powerhouse for population health and truly a moral compass for health care."

Dr. Hunter said that the endowed professorship is an investment in Dr. DeVoe, the Department of Family Medicine and in the health of all Oregonians.

"One of the most powerful tools to improve population health is community-based research that leads to new discoveries in primary care and rapid, widespread implementation of these new innovations," Dr. DeVoe said. "I am honored to receive the John and Sherrie Saultz Endowed Professorship as a means to continuing the important work that Dr. Saultz and our department are doing in these exciting new areas of research and education."

Pictured (left to right): Sherrie and John Saultz, Dr. DeVoe and Dr. Hunter during a Department of Family Medicine faculty meeting announcing the endowed professorship.