Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation Elects New Chair of Board of Trustees

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For Immediate Release

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation Elects New Chair of Board of Trustees

Pittsburgh, Pa. - October 3, 2006 -

Catharine Murray Ryan has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation. Her election was made at the board's annual meeting on September 18, 2006.

She was first elected a Trustee of the Foundation in July 2000, the year the Foundation was formed.

Raised in New Rochelle, New York, she and her husband, John T. Ryan III, came to his native Pittsburgh in 1969 to raise their family. She and her husband have three grown children and four grandchildren.

Mrs. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the Newton (Massachusetts) College of the Sacred Heart as well as a Masters in Pastoral Ministry from the Theology Department of Duquesne University.

She served as a Chaplain at Magee-Women's Hospital and Forbes Regional Hospital, retiring in 2000. Currently, she serves on the Board of Advisors for the Catholic University of America's School of Philosophy. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of The Pittsburgh Oratory and co-founder of its affiliate, the National Institute for Newman Studies. John Henry Newman is a highly esteemed and influential nineteenth-century Catholic educator, theologian and philosopher.

Mrs. Ryan and her family have been steadfast supporters of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. She became a member of the hospital's board in 1996, when she succeeded her late father-in-law, who was a hospital trustee for more than 40 years. For nearly two decades, she and her husband have been generous contributors to Children's, supporting research, the hospital's general needs and, most recently, the construction of the new campus.

In addition to her leadership of the Foundation Trustees, she also will serve as one of four Foundation representatives to the UPMC Health System board for 2006-07, and as Vice Chair of the Affiliation Oversight Committee.

Mrs. Ryan succeeds Co-Chairs Thomas G. Bigley and Edwin F. Scheetz Jr., both of whom will remain Foundation trustees.

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation is a public charity and is the sole fund-raising arm of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The Foundation exists to provide financial support for the hospital's mission of excellence in pediatric care, medical education and research.

Contacts:
Melanie Finnigan, 412-692-5502 or 412-692-5016, Melanie.Finnigan@chp.edu
Marc Lukasiak, 412-692-7919 or 412-692-5016, Marc.Lukasiak@chp.edu

Last Update
June 11, 2008

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