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Of the 13 distinguished healthcare professionals whom President Clinton has appointed to a new White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, two are from New York Weill Cornell Medical Center: Dr. Joseph J. Fins and Dr. William R. Fair.

The Commission is charged with writing a report to the President on "legislative and administrative recommendations for assuring that public policy maximizes the benefits to Americans of complementary and alternative medicine."

Dr. Fins, Director of Medical Ethics of New York Weill Cornell Medical Center of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, is also Associate Professor of Medicine and Medicine in Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is Associate Professor in the Program in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Sciences Research at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and Associate for Medicine at The Hastings Center. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He completed his internal medicine residency and fellowship in general and internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

"I'm very honored to have this opportunity to serve," Dr. Fins said. "In entering this assignment, I hope to address questions of access to safe and effective therapies, issues related to availability and coverage by third-party payers, and strategies to improve professional education about complementary and alternative medicine."

Dr. Fair, who lives in Long Boat Key, Florida, is Emeritus Professor of Urology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. The former holder of the Florence and Theodore Baumritter/Enid Ancell Chair of Urology and Chief of the Urology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he is also now a Member Emeritus at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. He chairs the Committee on Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the American Urologic Association and is Chairman of the Clinical Advisory Board of Health LLC. He received his B.S. from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College.