April 8, 2005

Research building to be renamed in honor of former MGH president

The hospital's Wellman Building will get a new identity later this month when this important MGH facility is renamed the Samuel and Paula Thier Research Building. The new name will serve as a lasting and fitting tribute to Samuel O. Thier, MD, who led both the MGH and Partners HealthCare, and his wife, Paula. Jack Connors, chairman of the Partners Board of Trustees, and his wife, Eileen, recently pledged $5 million to the MGH to name the facility in honor of the esteemed health care leader.                   

"Sam Thier is one of the single most influential health care leaders of our time," Connors, (above, left, with Thier) says. "In the years I have worked with Sam, I have learned a great deal from him, and I admire and respect him tremendously. It is truly gratifying to be able to help salute Sam's far-reaching contributions to health care in this meaningful way."

Thier has served as president of the MGH and president and CEO of Partners HealthCare, sustaining and building on the strength of both institutions through what has been one of the most challenging times in health care. He also is widely recognized as a leader in health care policy both locally and nationally.

Thier came to the MGH in the 1960s as an intern, and later became chief medical resident and then director of the MGH Renal Unit. He left the MGH for a position at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by an 11-year stint at Yale University School of Medicine, where he was chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine. He served for six years as president of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, and then returned to New England in 1991 to become president of Brandeis University. In 1994, as the MGH and BWH were founding Partners HealthCare, Thier returned to the MGH as president. He became president and CEO of Partners in 1996.

In 2002, Thier stepped down from his leadership role at Partners and came back to the MGH, where he continues to be involved with national health care policy issues.

The building that will bear the Thier name was originally named for Arthur O. and Gullan M. Wellman in recognition of their support for the hospital. Several years ago, the Wellman family graciously endorsed a plan to rename the building should an appropriate opportunity arise. The Wellman family's relationship with the hospital will continue to be reflected in the Wellman Center for Photomedicine.

"Because of the generosity of Jack and Eileen Connors, the Thier name will soon grace an important research facility at the MGH — the place Sam trained, practiced, taught and strengthened," says Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH. "We are enormously grateful for the Connors' magnificent contribution as well as for Jack's continued leadership and support. It is gratifying and appropriate that the ongoing work in the Thier Building will define and shape the future of medicine, just as the building's namesake has done throughout his extraordinary career."