William F. Owen JR., M.D.: Chancellor, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Ebony, July, 2005

William F. Owen Jr., M.D., is chancellor and vice president for health affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tenn. In this role, he introduces the latest business principles to the field of academic health care, research and education. Previously, 0wen, 49, a tenured professor with Harvard Medical School and Duke University School of Medicine, served as chief scientist for Baxter Healthcare Corporation's renal division.

He is the former president of the Renal Physicians Association, president of the Renal Education Foundation and a member of the board of the American Association of Kidney Patients. Owen was appointed to the National End Stage Renal Disease Advisory Board and the External Advisory Committee for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. He earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency, as well as postdoctoral fellowships in nephrology, transplantation and immunology from Brigham and Women's Hospital. He and his wife, Alice, have two children.