Back Bay resident named an associate provost of MGH Institute

The following is from the Charlestown-based MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Back Bay resident Peter S. Cahn, PhD, has been appointed as the new Associate Provost for
Academic Affairs at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, effective July 1, 2012.

Dr. Cahn’s most recent position was Director of Faculty Development and Diversity in the Department of Medicine at Boston University Medical Center.

“We are extremely pleased that Peter has joined the MGH Institute,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Alex F. Johnson, PhD, CCC-SLP. “As the school continues to grow and to add new programs, his expertise in working with faculty, his background in health care leadership and in diversity leadership will allow him to play a vital role in the future success of the Institute.”

Dr. Cahn is a graduate of Harvard University (AB), University of Cambridge (M. Phil.), and has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

A trained cultural anthropologist with a focus on contemporary Latin America. Dr. Cahn started his career in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma in 2002, where he became Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies.

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. He has published two books as well as articles in American Ethnologist and Cultural Anthropology. He also writes columns occasionally for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Dr. Cahn replaces Bette Ann Harris, DPT, MS, who has held the position of Associate Provost since 2008. Dr. Harris, who has been employed at the Institute since its founding, and is the school’s first graduate, will retire in December 2012.

MGH Institute of Health Professions is an innovative and independent graduate school in Boston that is a member of Partners HealthCare. More than 1,100 students are studying the fields of nursing, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology through a distinctive combination of academic study, clinical practice, and research. The MGH Institute, founded by Massachusetts General Hospital in 1977, is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.