THIER,SAMUEL,O., MD

Although the public has grown increasingly accustomed to consolidation in the health care industry, the announcement on December 8, 1993, th at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Brigham and Women' s Hospital would merge merited front page coverage across the nation. These hospitals, long considered the crown jewels of the Harvard Medic al School, have a history rich irt tradition and a reputation for fier ce independence. The merged entity, subsequently named Partners Health care System, Inc., has a payroll of 17,500 employees, making it the la rgest employer lit Boston and the third largest in Massachusetts. Shor tly after the merger; Boston newspapers reported that the announced pl ait had circumvented plans for Harvard to merge all five of its major teaching hospitals. The MGH-Brigham merger included no provisions for the other three Harvard-affiliated hospitals, the Massachusetts Deacon ess, the Beth Israel, or the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Speculation that the move was accomplished with little input from Harvard Medical School Dean Daniel Tosteson further accentuated the delicate politics of the merger. To run this powerhouse of health care, teaching, and r esearch, the directors of Partners turned to Dr Samuel O. Thier. Thier who had honed his leadership skills as Medicine Chairman at Yale and President of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), has lifelong ties to the MGH. Indeed during his recent tenure as President of Brandeis Univers ity, he still made rounds at the hospital. Largely credited with revit alizing the IOM and restoring financial health to Brandeis, Thier must now lead as entity playing in a quickly changing and unpredictable ma rketplace. Interviewed in his modest office located off a busy hallway near the main entrance to the MGH Thier reflected on the controversy surrounding the merger, the relationship with other Harvard hospitals, and the state of academic medicine in this country.