PORTLAND, Oregon – Elena Andresen, Ph.D., has been appointed executive vice president and provost of OHSU, Oregon's academic health center. In these roles, Andresen will oversee the education mission for the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Public Health, as well as other health care professional programs and initiatives. Her appointments are effective June 1, 2017.
"As we chart a path forward in an environment that pairs significant opportunities with unprecedented challenges to our mission and values, I'm delighted that Dr. Andresen has accepted the position of provost on a permanent basis,” said OHSU President Joe Robertson, M.D., M.B.A.
"I am very proud to serve OHSU,” said Andresen. "Our teaching and training mission are critically important to faculty and staff, and the high quality of our education programs is the result.”
Andresen has served as interim executive vice president and provost since October 2016, following the retirement of Provost and Executive Vice President Jeanette Mladenovic, M.D., M.B.A.
From 2014 to 2016, Andresen served as interim dean of the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, leading the successful effort to secure accreditation and paving the way for the arrival of the school's founding dean, David Bangsberg, Ph.D.
Trained as an epidemiologist and co-trained in health services research, Andresen's studies focus primarily on aging, disability across the lifespan, health-related quality of life methods and measures, and rehabilitation outcomes. Her work has been funded through the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.
Andresen has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and is the principal investigator for the Oregon Office on Disability and Health at OHSU, a five-year state grant funded by the CDC.
She has served on and led dozens of national and international committees for the CDC, AHRQ and the NIH, among others. She is an elected Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, and a member of the American Association on Health and Disability, American Public Health Association and the Society for Epidemiologic Research.
Before coming to OHSU in 2011, Elena served on faculty at the University of Rochester, Saint Louis University, and, most recently, the University of Florida, where she was the founding chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the newly accredited College of Public Health and Health Professions.
Andresen received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.
When not at OHSU, she enjoys gardening and spending time in the High Desert near picturesque Wamic, Oregon, for star gazing and birding.
About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is a nationally prominent research university and Oregon's academic health center. It serves patients throughout the region with a Level 1 trauma center and nationally recognized Doernbecher Children's Hospital. OHSU operates dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy schools that rank high both in research funding and in meeting the university's social mission. OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute helped pioneer personalized medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. OHSU Brain Institute scientists are nationally recognized for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease and new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and stroke. OHSU's Casey Eye Institute is a global leader in ophthalmic imaging, and in clinical trials related to eye disease.
