Tom Healy is a writer and poet and chairman of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which oversees the Fulbright program worldwide.
He was appointed to the Fulbright board by President Barack Obama in 2011, and has twice been elected chairman. He writes frequently about the Fulbright Program for the Huffington Post.
Healy teaches at New York University and is currently a visiting professor at the New School. His book, What the Right Hand Knows, was a finalist for the 2009 L.A.
Times Book Prize and the Lambda Literary Award and his poems and essays have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies.
His chapbook, Animal Spirits, a collaboration with tattoo artist Duke Riley, was published by Monk Books in early 2013.
Throughout his career, Healy has been active in the arts, international affairs, and philanthropy.
He served on President Clinton’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and has worked on AIDS prevention and anti-poverty projects around the world.
Healy served as president of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in the years after 9/11 and was awarded the New York City Arts Award by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2005
for leading rebuilding efforts for the downtown arts community.
Earlier, Healy pioneered New York’s Chelsea arts district and opened one of the first art galleries there in 1994, showing numerous young artists who rose to prominence.
Before his gallery, Healy owned a consulting company to museums, film festivals, and other prominent cultural institutions around the world.
He has also served on the boards of many cultural organizations including PEN, the Brooklyn Museum, Creative Time, Poets House and the Miami Poetry Festival.
Healy grew up on his family’s small dairy farm in Mount Vision, New York. He studied philosophy at Harvard as an undergraduate and received his M.F.A. in creative writing
from Columbia. His life partner, Fred Hochberg, is the chairman of the United States Export-Import Bank.
Healy can be followed on Twitter @tphealy or on his blog: tomhealyfsb.tumblr.com.
