Indianapolis City-County Council Appoints David W. Crabb, MD, FACP, to Four-Year Term
December 27, 2007
Contact: Michelle O'Keefe
Phone: 317-630-6863
Pager: 317-310-5972
The Indianapolis City-Council has appointed David W. Crabb, MD, FACP, to the Board of Trustees for the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County. Announced today by the Health and Hospital Corporation, Dr. Crabb’s four-year term will begin on January 1.
"Dr. Crabb is a person of enormous talent, intelligence, insight, integrity and experience. He will provide important guidance in assisting the Wishard and the Marion County Health Department improve the health of our community and provide needed services to the indigent and underserved. We are grateful to the City-County Council for appointing Dr. Crabb to the Health and Hospital Corporation's board," said Matthew Gutwein, president and chief executive officer of the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County.
The Health and Hospital Corporation operates two service divisions: Wishard Health Services and the Marion County Health Department. As a trustee, Dr. Crabb will work to further the corporation’s mission of promoting and protecting the health of everyone in the community and providing healthcare to those who are underserved.
"Dr. Crabb is highly respected for his enormous contributions to the teaching, research and clinical missions of the IU School of Medicine. He has also demonstrated his commitment to the underserved through his steady presence here at Wishard," said Lisa E. Harris, MD, chief executive officer and medical director of Wishard Health Services. "We are delighted that he has now stepped up to the plate to contribute further by serving as a member of our board."
A 1978 graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Crabb completed a residency in internal medicine as well as a fellowship in gastroenterology. He then served as chief medicine resident at Indiana University Hospital from 1982 to 1983. Currently the John B. Hickam professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine for the IU School of Medicine, Dr. Crabb has been associated with Wishard continuously since the late 1970s, as a medical student, resident, fellow, director of the Wishard gastrointestinal outpatient clinic, and as an attending physician for gastroenterology and general medicine.
"Seen from the perspective of the chair of the Department of Medicine, Wishard is absolutely vital to our missions: the education of our students and residents, the care of patients regardless of their ability to pay, and providing access for all patients to the latest medical treatments through clinical investigation," said Dr. Crabb. "Perhaps even more important is the example Wishard has set in its approach to developing new systems of care to meet public health needs."
Dr. Crabb has extensive experience in governance, having served on the boards of directors for numerous organizations, including the American Heart Association – Indianapolis Chapter, Fairbanks Hospital, the Regenstrief Institute, and the Indiana Institute for Global Health. He also currently serves on the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for the National Institutes of Health.
"I am grateful for the chance to work with many outstanding leaders at Wishard and the Health and Hospital Corporation to improve the health of the community and maintain Wishard's role as a pre-eminent teaching hospital," added Dr. Crabb.
Dr. Crabb succeeds trustee Henry C. Bock, MD, whose term expires on December 31. Dr. Bock served with great distinction as a trustee for 23 years. During his tenure as trustee Dr. Bock served on the Public Health/Healthy Babies Committee, the Hospital Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Planning Committee and the Wishard Memorial Foundation Board of Directors. He was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Frank O’Bannon in 2000.
Formed in 1951, the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County is a municipal corporation established by Indiana Code 16-22-8. An appointed seven-member Board of Trustees governs the corporation; the Mayor of Indianapolis appoints three, the County Commissioners appoint two, and the City-County Council appoints two, with staggered terms of four years each. The Board of Trustees is bipartisan by statute and has the authority to make and adopt appropriate ordinances, which constitute the code of the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County.