Thomas F. Boat is immediate past director of the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and past chairman of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics. He also was physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati. He now serves as executive associate dean for the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and CEO of UC Physicians. A current focus is creating high value systems of care at Cincinnati Children’s and the College of Medicine that are more responsive to the individual needs of patients and families. He earned an MD at the University of Iowa.

A pediatric pulmonologist by training, Dr. Boat worked early in his career to define the pathophysiology of airway dysfunction and more effective therapies for chronic lung diseases of childhood, such as cystic fibrosis. More recently he has worked at local and national levels to improve research efforts, subspecialty training and clinical care in pediatrics. He has a special interest in issues posed by children’s mental health for pediatric care and training. Dr. Boat joined Cincinnati Children’s in 1993, after serving as chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Previously, he was co-director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and serves as co-chair of the IOM Forum on the Science of Health Care Quality Improvement and Implementation, as well the IOM Committee on the Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults. Dr. Boat has been a member of the AAHRPP board of directors since 2004, and is currently board president. He has served as chair of the American Board of Pediatrics and president of the Society for Pediatric Research, as well as the American Pediatric Society.