Background Information
Brief Biography
Prior to taking the U-M Health System post in May 2009, Dr. Pescovitz served as executive associate dean for Research Affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine, president and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and interim vice president for Research Administration at Indiana University.
As executive associate dean for Research Affairs, she was responsible for oversight of nearly $260 million annually in grants and contracts, as well as the administration of the $155 million Indiana Genomics Initiative (INGEN). She also contributed to the creation of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and, since 2003, championed the construction of more than 700,000 square feet of new research space at the School of Medicine.
As president and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children, she led an ambitious and wide-reaching strategic plan that included the fund-raising and construction of a $470 million, 675,000-square-foot addition to the hospital. Riley is the sixth largest children’s hospital in the country; if it were a free-standing institution, it would be ranked fourth in terms of extramural research funding.
As interim vice president for Research Administration for Indiana University, Dr. Pescovitz was responsible for the research infrastructure at all eight Indiana University campuses.
A pediatric endocrinologist, most of her research has been on the physiologic and molecular mechanisms responsible for disorders of growth and puberty with a focus on development of novel therapies for these conditions. She has served as president of the Society for Pediatric Research, the nation’s largest pediatric research organization, president of the Lawson Wilkins (North American) Pediatric Endocrine Society, chair of the March of Dimes Grants Review Committee, a member of the Ad-Hoc Group for Medical Research Funding, the board of the Hormone Foundation, the board of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), and the board of the Children’s Miracle Network.
Her awards include a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, Indiana University School of Medicine’s highest teaching award, the Science Medal of Distinction from the IUPUI School of Science, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, recognition by the Indianapolis Business Journal as one of the nation’s Top Doctors, a Power Player in Indianapolis and one of the Most Influential Women in Indiana, the iWOMAN Trailblazer Award, the Women and HiTech Award, the Health, Medicine & Life Sciences Torchbearer Award from the Indiana Commission for Women, the Spirit of the Prairie Award from the Connor Prairie Living History Museum, Indiana Senate and House of Representatives Concurrent Resolution No. 007 Recognizing Career and Community Contributions, the Indiana UniversityPresident’s Medal for Sustained Excellence, a Sagamore of the Wabash traditional Indiana honor for excellence given by the Governor of Indiana and a Red Shoes Award from the Riley Hospital for Children. More recently she was named one of Modern Healthcare's Top 25 Women in Healthcare and received the Starkey Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.
She is married to Dr. Mark Pescovitz, an organ transplant surgeon and vice-chair for research in the Department of Surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine. They have three children.
Contact Information
Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, M.D.
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
M7324 Medical Science Building Box 5626
734-647-9351
E-mail: opescovi@umich.edu
