April 8, 2016
Margaret M. Van Bree will be the featured guest speaker for the Arnold School's 29th Annual Hooding Ceremony at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 5 at the Koger Center for the Arts. The Hooding Ceremony is for the Arnold School's master's and doctoral degree recipients. The event also includes the presentation of student, faculty and alumni awards. The University's official ceremony for doctoral graduates will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 7. The official, university-wide commencement event for all undergraduates and master’s degree students (including those in the Arnold School) will take place at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 6.
Van Bree is the President of Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island where she directs planning, development, operations, and ongoing evaluation. As the largest hospital in the state and third largest in New England, Rhode Island Hospital is considered the flagship hospital of the Lifespan system, has a Level I trauma center, and is the principal teaching hospital of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. It is recognized nationally and internationally for its research and academic medical center and ranks among the country's leading independent hospitals for funding from the National Institutes of Health. The 87-bed Hasbro Children's Hospital is Rhode Island's only children's hospital and has the only pediatric emergency department and Pediatric Level I trauma center in southeastern New England.
Van Bree rose through the ranks with roles such as chief operations officer and senior vice president at private hospitals and academic medical centers throughout the country (e.g., St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wis., University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Va.). During her career, she has championed innovative approaches to patient capacity management and service excellence, improved hospital operating income, and achieved national recognition for clinical programs. Van Bree has also held various faculty appointments at Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Management that collaborate with the hospitals where she has worked in her administrator roles.
The American College of Healthcare Executives Fellow also spent a decade cultivating joint ventures between Tulane University and area hospitals while holding both university and hospital appointments. In her academic capacity within Tulane's Department of Health Systems Management, Van Bree also developed and implemented an Executive Master of Public Health Program for healthcare executives in Taiwan, Republic of China, directed recruitment and selection of applicants into five master's programs, and taught Master of Public Health and Master of Health Administration courses.
Van Bree earned a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, a Master of Hospital Administration from the University of Minnesota, and a Doctor of Public Health from Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She is recognized nationally for her professional achievements and commitment to community service, as indicated by her inclusion in Becker's Hospital Review on Women/Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know (2013, 2011) and Leaders of Great Hospitals in America (2013) as well as Houston Woman Magazine's Houston's 50 Most Influential Woman (2011).