Med School's McNeil Is Provost Contender

Watts Professor of Health Care Policy Barbara Joyce McNeil is a workaholic.

And 30 years of hard work at the Harvard Medical School have carried McNeil, 51, to the final stages of the provost search.

Her accomplishments have included the drafting of a stringent conflict of interest policy and the creation of a new department at the Medical School. She also serves as a frequent adviser to the federal government.

Despite all her duties and class work McNeil even found time to go back to business school.

Hard work and brilliant scholarship go a long way, but it takes a skilled administrator to make the short list for the University's number two post.

Perhaps McNeil's most noteworthy achievement as an administrator was leading the Medical School's special committee on conflict of interest policy between 1989 and 1990. During that period, the committee reviewed the existing conflict of interest policies, which had come under fire for lacking strict regulation of possible financial conflicts.

McNeil's special committee was able to arrive at a near-unanimous agreement on new, more stringent, conflict of interest rules.

"That the committee came to a consensus on a topic like this is something I want engraved on my tombstone," McNeil told the Globe at the time.

McNeil arrived at the Medical School as a student in fall 1962 and, with the exception of brief stints as a visiting scholar at other universities, has never left.

During her lengthy career, she climbed the academic ladder from student to faculty member. Today, she heads the Department of Health Care Policy, and she sits on the Medical School's faculty council, a steering committee of the medical faculty.

Colleagues say McNeil is a "brilliant" academic. One of her major accomplishments was bringing the methodology of the study of decision-making into medical schools. Though trained as a radiologist, McNeil founded the Department of Health Care Policy at the Medical School in 1988 and has headed it ever since.

"She really built the area of health care policy in an institution that's not known for rapid change," says Associate Professor of Medical Sociology Paul D. Cleary.

McNeil's research on health policy and cost containment in hospitals has drawn from many disciplines. McNeil works with physicians, economists, psychologists, sociologists and statisticians in her study of the field, Cleary says.

That sort of inter-disciplinary experience might be valuable if McNeil is tapped for the provost job. The provost will be expected to coordinate such interdisciplinary programs between Harvard's various faculties and schools.

Another key part of McNeil's qualifications for the provost spot is her experience at the Medical School. The school's huge size and budget have been seen at times as immune to central or influence. And University officials have recently voiced concerns about the high costs of research at the Medical School.

McNeil--who graduated from an advanced manage- ment program at Harvard Business School in1986--pays close attention to those costs, and tothe way research grant money is spent, colleaguessay.

"Barbara would know where every cent was goingand where every cent came from, and expect everycent to be accounted for," says Larry F.Cavendish, administrator of the Joint Program inNuclear Medicine at the Medical School.

McNeil also has some fundraising experience.She served as treasurer of the Harvard MedicalSchool, Alumni Association from 1988 to 1991.

In Addition to her work at the Medical School,McNeil is no stranger to Washington, D.C. She hasserved on committees that advised the Secretary ofHealth and Human Services on Medicare costs andwas a member of the National Council on HealthCare Technology.

Relative Unknown Across River

Despite her high profile at the Medical school,McNeil is relatively unknown on this side of theCharles.

But colleagues at the Medical School say theyhave nothing but respect for McNeil. Cavendishdescribes her as "a workaholic, a fanatic fordetail, and a very bright and dedicatedindividual."

"Other colleagues describe her as "verysupportive" and "smart, charming, gracious."

"She's phenomenal--she's almost inhuman,"Cavendish says. "A very focused person," he adds.

And though none acknowledged that they hadheard about McNeil as a provost candidate,co-workers say she would be a fine choice for thejob.

"I think she'd be outstanding. My onlyreservation would be that we would hate to loseher," Cleary says.

"My understanding is that she's been offeredmany jobs at that she's been offered many jobs atthat level," says Assistant Professor of HealthCare Policy Edward Guadagnoli.

McNeil, who was born in Cambridge, graduatedfrom Emmanuel College in 1962. She was "the starof the residents class" in the first class ofnuclear medicine residents at the Harvard MedicalSchool, according to Cavendish.

She lives in Boston and is said to collectOriental rugs

"Barbara would know where every cent was goingand where every cent came from, and expect everycent to be accounted for," says Larry F.Cavendish, administrator of the Joint Program inNuclear Medicine at the Medical School.

McNeil also has some fundraising experience.She served as treasurer of the Harvard MedicalSchool, Alumni Association from 1988 to 1991.

In Addition to her work at the Medical School,McNeil is no stranger to Washington, D.C. She hasserved on committees that advised the Secretary ofHealth and Human Services on Medicare costs andwas a member of the National Council on HealthCare Technology.

Relative Unknown Across River

Despite her high profile at the Medical school,McNeil is relatively unknown on this side of theCharles.

But colleagues at the Medical School say theyhave nothing but respect for McNeil. Cavendishdescribes her as "a workaholic, a fanatic fordetail, and a very bright and dedicatedindividual."

"Other colleagues describe her as "verysupportive" and "smart, charming, gracious."

"She's phenomenal--she's almost inhuman,"Cavendish says. "A very focused person," he adds.

And though none acknowledged that they hadheard about McNeil as a provost candidate,co-workers say she would be a fine choice for thejob.

"I think she'd be outstanding. My onlyreservation would be that we would hate to loseher," Cleary says.

"My understanding is that she's been offeredmany jobs at that she's been offered many jobs atthat level," says Assistant Professor of HealthCare Policy Edward Guadagnoli.

McNeil, who was born in Cambridge, graduatedfrom Emmanuel College in 1962. She was "the starof the residents class" in the first class ofnuclear medicine residents at the Harvard MedicalSchool, according to Cavendish.

She lives in Boston and is said to collectOriental rugs