Prior to the American Red Cross, Dr. Healy served as the Dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health and Professor of Medicine at the Ohio State University, starting in 1995. Under Dr. Healy's leadership, the College, which includes its Medical School, a newly created School of Public Health, and a School of Allied Medical Professions, greatly expanded its talent and programs in cancer research and tumor genetics, and within its Heart and Lung Institute, received national designation as a Center of Excellence in Women's Health, and obtained accreditation for its Public Health School. Dr. Healy chaired the Ohio State University Research Commission, a task force on university-wide research.
Dr. Healy was a past director of the NIH, appointed by President George H. W. Bush to that post in early 1991. During her tenure, Dr. Healy established the Shannon Awards, designed to foster innovative approaches in biomedical research and keep talented scientists working within a highly competitive grant system during funding lapses; established a major intramural laboratory for human genomics at NIH and recruited a world renowned scientist to lead the Human Genome program. She oversaw the elevation of nursing to an Institute for Nursing Research, as well as the reentry of the three behavioral institutes into the NIH enterprise. Dr. Healy launched the NIH Women's Health Initiative, a $625 million effort to study the causes, prevention and cures of diseases that affect women. Under her leadership, the NIH embarked on its first strategic planning process, involving a broad cross-section of NIH constituencies.