A former top official at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Kenneth Olden, has been appointed founding and acting dean of the proposed CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College.

Previously, Dr. Olden headed the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, both parts of the NIH. He recently served as Yerby Visiting Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.

“Dr. Olden is a distinguished scientific leader and cancer researcher,” CUNY’s chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, said in a statement announcing the appointment. “He brings an impressive combination of national and indeed international experience and service to the country to this vitally important and new initiative.”

Plans for a school of public health were announced in October 2006. Billed as the city’s first public school of public health, it plans to offer master’s and doctoral degrees. It is expected to open by 2010.

$180 Million Expansion Under Way at Gouverneur

Construction is under way on a $180 million renovation and expansion of Gouverneur Healthcare Services, a health care clinic situated on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Plans for the clinic call for a 108,000-square-foot addition to the facility, including a new atrium for the five-story ambulatory care center on Madison Street, which will be renamed the Center for Community Health and Wellness. The clinic’s long-term care services will be renamed The Residence at Gouverneur Court. The Residence will include an additional 85 nursing home beds.

City to Expand Primary Care in 11 Neighborhoods

The city will expand primary care in 11 neighborhoods citywide that according to a recent report need improvements or expansions.

The report, Primary Care Initiative Community Health Assessment, identified 11 neighborhoods that lack sufficient primary care services. The report also identified other “barriers” to health care, including long waiting room times and complaints that doctors and nurses did not listen carefully enough.

“This report reveals specific barriers New Yorkers face in accessing basic care and we must now use this data and information as a guide to improve,” the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, said at a news conference.

Among the neighborhoods that were found “most in need” of primary care are North and Central Brooklyn, East and Central Harlem, all of Staten Island, and others. In a survey of 3,000 New Yorkers, 42.7% of respondents said waiting room times were too long. More than 31% said they needed an appointment to see a doctor sooner than the time offered.

Weill Cornell Opens Nanotechnology Facility

Weill Cornell Medical College is now home to a facility devoted to nanotechnology, science conducted on a tiny scale.

The facility is part of Cornell University’s NanoScale Science and Technology Facility in Ithaca, N.Y.

Billed as “The Big Future of Tiny Medicine,” researchers convened a symposium at the medical center last week during which they showed off micro-devices used in medical treatments. They also discussed applications for nanotechnology, including the development of new drugs, implantable devices, the treatment of cancer, and treatments in orthopedics, among other advances.

New Board Chairman for Public Hospital System

A former health insurance company executive, Dr. Michael Stocker, was named chairman of the board of directors of the city’s public hospital network.

esolomont@nysun.com