NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., will rejoin the faculty of the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt to teach a course in health care policy. Cooper, who was an adjunct faculty member at the Owen School from 1995 to 2002, will teach students in the school’s new Health Care MBA program.
Appointed adjunct professor of management, he will teach Health Care Law and Regulation on Mondays and Fridays beginning in January.
Associate Dean for Health Care Jon Lehman said Cooper is an important addition to the new program’s faculty. “I can’t think of anyone better than Representative Jim Cooper to teach health care policy in our new MBA Health Care specialization. As one of our nation’s thought leaders on health care, his real world experience – combined with his in-depth knowledge of the workings of the health care system and the challenges of creating and implementing effective legislation – make him an incredible resource for Owen.
“Representative Cooper, with his unique position on the front line of health care policy formation, will be another key member of the exceptional team of faculty that we are assembling as we build a world class health care management education program,” Lehman added.
“I’m looking forward to joining the faculty at Owen again,” Cooper said. “The Health Care MBA curriculum is an exciting new opportunity for students. Health care policy is and will continue to be an important issue in Congress, in the boardroom, the doctor’s office and around the family dinner table as we face rising prescription drug costs, disparity in care, insurance costs and other concerns. This program will provide MBA candidates with real-world experience, as they work closely with health care professionals in Nashville, one of the nation’s leading hubs of the health care industry.”
Cooper was the youngest person ever elected to Congress in 1982. He served six terms and then mounted an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1994. In 2002, he was returned to Congress as the representative for the 5th District, representing approximately 700,000 people in Nashville and its surrounding communities.
He authored the chief rival to the Clinton Health Care Plan and has since published several articles on health care policy. Cooper serves on the Armed Services and Budget committees and has previous service on the Government Reform, Energy & Commerce, Financial Services and Small Business committees.
Prior to his service in Washington, D.C., he was an attorney at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville. Later, he was an investment banker at Equitable Securities and co-founded Brentwood Capital Advisors.
Vanderbilt designed the Health Care MBA curriculum in concert with a panel of health care industry leaders who expressed the need for a different kind of graduate business education. The Owen School program requires a rigorous, structured curriculum of health care-specific courses and immersion in the day-to-day realities of health care through a combination of real-world clinical experiences and strategic projects with health care organizations.
The program, which got underway this fall with the incoming class of 2007, has its students working in close collaboration with professionals at the top-ranked Vanderbilt University Medical Center and with some of the country’s most innovative health care companies.
The Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University is ranked as a top institution by Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times and Forbes. For more news about Owen, visit www.owen.vanderbilt.edu.
Media contact: Susanne Hicks, (615) 322-NEWS
Susanne.hicks@vanderbilt.edu