Akron Children’s Hospital names Dr. Michael Forbes chief academic officer
04-21-2022 (Akron, Mahoning Valley, Ohio)
Akron Children’s has named Dr. Michael Forbes chief academic officer, a new position that will oversee and align the hospital’s research and medical education strategies.
The position is an endowed chair made possible by a $1 million gift to the hospital’s Rebecca D. Considine Research Institute by former president and CEO William Considine and his wife, Rebecca. The gift was announced at a gala in October 2019, marking Considine’s 40th year leading the hospital.
Dr. Forbes assumes the William H. and Rebecca D. Considine Endowed Chair in Research from Dr. Bruce Cohen, who has been serving as interim vice president and medical director of the research institute since 2019. Dr. Cohen remains director of Akron Children’s NeuroDevelopmental Science Center and the hospital’s mitochrondrial program.
Dr. Forbes joined Akron Children’s in 2006 as an attending physician in the hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). In addition to his clinical role, he serves in several leadership roles and is currently interim chair of the Department of Pediatrics and past president of the Medical Staff. He has led research efforts in the PICU, sharing data with the PICUs of other children’s hospitals to guide quality initiatives and improve outcomes.
In his new position, Dr. Forbes is responsible for the overall execution of the medical education and research strategy for Akron Children’s, and engaging with university partners to foster collaborative efforts to advance the academic mission across organizational boundaries
“We are grateful to Dr. Bruce Cohen for his stewardship of our research program these past few years and welcome Dr. Forbes in this newly expanded role, bringing together research and medical education,” said Chris Gessner, president and CEO of Akron Children’s.
“Dr. Forbes is a highly respected physician leader, who will bring great energy and creativity to this role,” Gessner continued. “He will actively seek out and develop opportunities to attract scholars, researchers and new sources of research funding; improve the experiences of students and providers in our training programs; and partner with other clinicians and educational leaders to explore the potential for creating additional accredited fellowship programs in pediatric subspecialties”
A key point of emphasis for Dr. Forbes in his new role is stimulating and coordinating population health and health service research. Gessner noted that “Mike is passionate about improving the health status of the pediatric and teenage population in Northeast Ohio and developing creative solutions to eliminate health disparities and inequities.”
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Forbes earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and went on to complete a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was a pediatric critical care specialist at Pittsburgh Children’s before joining Akron Children’s. He has authored and contributed to numerous medical articles and is a professor of pediatrics at Northeast Ohio Medical University.
