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Dr. Benjamin Chu to Take Helm of American Legacy Foundation® Board
7/15/2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Benjamin Chu, president of the Southern California Region of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Legacy Foundation, the national, independent public health foundation dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Dr. Chu is one of the three medical doctors who serve on the 11-member American Legacy Foundation Board.
Dr. Chu takes over the foundation leadership at a pivotal point in time for the public health foundation, which is devoted to preventing our nation’s youth from starting to smoke and helping Americans quit smoking. The foundation is facing a decrease in funding, having received its last major payment resulting from the Master Settlement Agreement in 2003.
“I am honored to take on the leadership of the foundation’s Board, allowing me to continue to help educate the American public that tobacco is the number-one preventable cause of death in our country, killing more than 400,000 Americans each year,” Chu said. “The foundation has been a ground-breaking champion in the effort to raise public awareness about the vital health and social justice issues surrounding tobacco use in the U.S., and I look forward to leading the foundation in furthering its mission.”
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals is the largest group model health maintenance organization in the United States, and since 2005 Dr. Chu has served as the president of its Southern California Region, which has 3.3 million members. Prior to his current post, Dr. Chu was the president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest public hospital system in the United States. Dr. Chu is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Fund in New York City, and previously served as the Acting Commissioner of Health of the New York City Department of Health. In 2001, Dr. Chu served as Chairperson of the Coalition for a Smoke-Free City in New York.
"I am pleased to pass the torch to Ben Chu to serve as our board chair,” said William Sorrell, the foundation's immediate past Chairman and Vermont’s Attorney General. “Dr. Chu’s long and varied history as a practicing physician and health care administrator make him eminently qualified to lead the board of an organization dedicated to fighting tobacco, the cause of the greatest avoidable public health problem we face in this country today."
Dr. Cheryl Healton, the president and Chief Executive Officer of the foundation concurred. “Dr. Chu first joined our Board in 2006 and has been invaluable in steering the organization during the past three years. We are excited to have him lead the Board and bring his visionary thinking to the challenges that lie ahead for us,” she said.
The American Legacy Foundation® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/.
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Contact: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596, jcartwright@americanlegacy.org