Dr. Claudia Baquet serves as Associate Dean for Policy and Planning at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. In this position she coordinates all health reform-related activities of the School of Medicine, including issues relating to the changing role of Academic Health Centers, telemedicine, and rural health initiatives. Dr. Baquet also serves as Program Director of the State Area Health Education Center project, and Director of the Organized Research Center for Health Policy/Health Services Research.

Formerly, Dr. Baquet served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from September 1992 to March 1993. In this position, Dr. Baquet directed the Public Health Service's Office of Minority Health and developed policies and objectives for the improvement of the health status of minority and disadvantaged populations, and coordinated all HHS minority health programs.

A physician with experience in private practice, hospital, health department, and research settings, Dr. Baquet received her medical degree in 1977 from Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, and her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1983. She also received training in Pathology at St. Louis (Missouri) University and Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital, Los Angeles, California.

She actively participates in a number of health-oriented organizations such as the National Medical Association, American Public Health Association, Association of Academic Health Centers and American Society for Preventive Oncology.

Dr. Baquet has authored various published medical articles, reports, and book chapters. Titles include "Cancer in U.S. Women" for the text of the American Medical Women's Association, "Cancer Among Blacks and Other Minorities: a Statistical Profile," "The Realities of Cancer in Minority Communities--Cancer Prevention and Control," and "Socioeconomic Factors and Cancer Incidence Among Blacks and Whites." She is considered the leading national expert on cancer in minority and low-income populations. She also serves as an expert on cancer issues unique to women and their families.

In 1993/1994, she was awarded a "Visiting Professorship in Preventive Medicine" at the University of Connecticut Health Science Center by the American Teachers of Preventive Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Baquet's honors include the 1988 "ONI Award" from the International Black Women's Health Congress. Dr. Baquet also has received various National Cancer Institute awards in recognizing her scientific leadership for intervention research in special populations. In February 1990, Dr. Baquet appeared in Ebony Magazine as one of nine leading Black Americans to watch in the 1990s. In 1991, she was presented with the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Award for Exceptional Achievement, and the Indian Health Service Director's Special Award for Excellence. In 1992, she received the Medicine Wheel Award for Research and Service to the American Indian Community from the American Indian Clinic, Inc.

Her special interests include health reform needs and solutions for medically undeserved communities, women's health research and policy, the changing role of academic health centers, cancer in racial/ethnic minorities, and culturally competent/sensitive health care delivery strategies.

5/96