Early in his career, Pardes chaired psychiatry departments at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center—now SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University—and what was then the University of Colorado Medical Center, before he was recruited to direct the federal National Institute of Mental Health in 1978.
As head of NIMH, Pardes advocated for people with mental illness and the need for more research to understand their conditions.
Pardes was a pioneer in his recognition of the importance of citizen advocacy groups to raise awareness of mental illness and lobby for research funding, said Dr. Saul Levin, CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association. When the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, now known as the National Alliance on Mental Illness, was created in 1979, Pardes agreed to serve as an adviser.
“Having a leader in the field of psychiatry say, ‘Those who have a mental illness or substance use problem need help from their family members, and we need to also ensure that they get support’ was crucial,” Levin said. “NAMI was a small organization when it started, and now it’s in every state and is one of the biggest advocates for those with mental illness.”
“He has influenced generations of psychiatrists and, not just psychiatrists, but every doctor that would have passed through psychiatry during their training,” Levin added.
In 1984, Pardes moved to New York, appointed jointly as director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and chair of the psychiatry department at Columbia’s medical school. Five years later, he was promoted to dean of the faculty of medicine at Columbia’s medical school and vice president for health sciences for the university.
It was around that time Pardes met Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association. The two were assigned seats next to each other on a train from Washington, D.C., to New York.
“Once he found out that I had been down in Washington lobbying, he asked me questions for two hours and 40 minutes,” Raske said. “By the time we got to New York, I was intellectually exhausted from answering his questions. I thought to myself, ‘this gentleman has the most inquisitive mind I have ever seen.’ ”
Pardes took the reins at NewYork-Presbyterian in 2000, just two years after New York Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital merged. New York Hospital was affiliated with what is now known as Weill Cornell Medicine Medical College, while Presbyterian was affiliated with the medical school now known as Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
In Raske’s view, Pardes’ work to steer the massive combined organization is among his foremost accomplishments.
“He has the one characteristic that is essential to being a good leader, and that is courage,” Raske said. “He knows and accepts the consequences of decision-making.”
While president of Cornell University, Association of American Medical Colleges President and CEO Dr. David Skorton saw patients at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He was impressed with Pardes’ focus on those who needed services.
“I got a chance to see, from the clinician side, how Herb was thinking,” he said. “Of course, he wanted to do the right thing by the physicians and nurses and other folks in the hospital and make sure that things were going well in terms of finances and so on, but he had an impressive and compelling desire to remember why we were there.”
Indeed, Pardes emphasized the importance of caregivers’ consideration for others.
“In every talk I gave at the hospital, I reiterated how important empathy is, especially [for] frontline workers. By understanding what a person really wants and needs, you’re able to give them the best care,” he said.
Lola Butcher is a freelance writer based in Aveiro, Portugal.
