Jeffrey J. Doyle, Cornell University professor of plant biology and the Hays and James Clark Director of the Office of Undergraduate Biology, has been appointed the new chair of Cornell's Health Careers Program Advisory Board (HCPAB).

Doyle succeeds David Robertshaw, professor of physiology, who has served as chair of the board since it was reactivated in 1996. Robertshaw was instrumental in developing the board in its current role and expanding its size. Robertshaw is leaving Ithaca to become the first associate dean at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.

The Health Careers Program Advisory Board oversees Cornell Career Services' Health Careers Program, ensuring appropriate, universitywide policies and advising for students seeking to enter health careers. It also guides the Health Careers Evaluation Committee, which produces the letters of evaluation for Cornell students applying to medical schools. The HCPAB has 18 members representing various academic departments and three of Cornell's professional schools: medicine, veterinary medicine and law. In 1997, a practicing physician was added to the board.

The board and the evaluation committee, which were established in 1978, have always been chaired by tenured faculty members, working closely with Cornell Career Services.

Doyle has served as a member of the HCPAB since 1998 and will begin his new role as chair in January 2002.