N. Lynn Eckhert, 1964
B.S., Denison University
M.D., State University of New York
M.P.H., Johns Hopkins University
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
Director for Academic Programs
Partners HealthCare International
Boston
Citation awarded May, 2014
N. Lynn Eckhert, a 1964 graduate of Denison University, is the Director of Academic Programs at Partners Healthcare International. Following graduation she immersed herself in graduate education earning a Master of Nursing in New York, an MD from SUNY at Buffalo and a MPH and Doctorate of Public Health from Johns Hopkins. Attracted to start-ups in medical education, she and her husband, Louis Fazen III, joined the new medical school at the University of Massachusetts. The 27 years at UMass were exciting as the opportunities abundant; as a pediatrician, Associate Dean of Admissions, Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Dean/Vice Chancellor for International and Public Health Programs. Working within the academia, Lynn is past Chairman of the Association of American Medical Colleges and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Board of Medical Examiners.
Fascinated by global health since her first medical student trip to a Liberian hospital, Lynn and her husband have worked with their children in the Indian Health Service in Arizona, to Bon Samaritan Hospital in Haiti and for a sabbatical year in Zimbabwe. Named the first William Walsh Fellow, Lynn worked with Project Hope on numerous primary care programs in Central America and Europe.
Her global health work led her to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates and as its Chairman. In 2012 she was appointed to the National Committee for Foreign Medical Education Accreditation.
An unexpected consequence of developing a new medical school with the Lebanese American University was a two year role as the Interim Dean from 2010-2012. In February-April of this year, she was a Fulbright Specialist advising on the development of a Master of Public Health Program at a new medical school in Saudi Arabia.
According to Lynn, one of her most enriching endeavors, has been a one woman play about Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman physician, titled “A Lady Alone”. Performed throughout the United States, the play received a Sloan grant.
Lynn and her husband have been married 43 years and have three children, three in-law children, and two granddaughters. She is proud of her liberal arts education at Denison, and considers it “invaluable in working across cultures.”
