MetroHealth Foundation Welcomes New Board Chair Dr. Alfred F. Connors Jr.
The MetroHealth Foundation today announced that Alfred F. Connors Jr., MD, was elected as its new Board chair during the Foundation’s May 25 Board of Directors meeting.
Dr. Connors, who has served on the Foundation Board since 2009, first joined MetroHealth as an intern a half-century ago. He built an extraordinary legacy as a clinician, researcher, educator, mentor, and colleague and served as Chair of the Department of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer.
His research into end-of-life care in the 1980s and ’90s caused a seismic shift in how the critically ill and dying spend their final days. His work proving the ineffectiveness of right heart catheterization in the critically ill has improved the care of countless patients around the world.
In 2018, Dr. Connors and his wife, Mildred Lam, MD, made what was then the largest individual philanthropic gift in MetroHealth’s history. That gift includes five endowed research professorships and one endowed teaching fellowship, as well as matching funds to ignite and inspire donations to MetroHealth’s five-year $150 million Transformation Campaign.
“Since the day I arrived at MetroHealth in June 1974, I have been proud to serve our mission,” said Dr. Connors. “The beauty of MetroHealth is that everyone who works here understands the mission and understands how what they do serves that mission. It is why we work so well together.”
Founded in 1837, MetroHealth is leading the way to a healthier you and a healthier community through service, teaching, discovery, and teamwork. Cuyahoga County’s public, safety-net hospital system, MetroHealth meets people where they are, providing care through five hospitals, four emergency departments and more than 20 health centers. Each day, our nearly 9,000 employees focus on providing our community with equitable healthcare — through patient-focused research, access to care, and support services — that seeks to eradicate health disparities rooted in systematic barriers. For more information, visit metrohealth.org.
