News from the halls of academic medicine and the health sciences

January 2021

HEADLINES Spending bill offers first GME funding boost in a quarter century he massive spending bill that Congress passed in the final days of 2020 included long-awaited, widely publicized relief measures for individuals and businesses battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. For academic BEYOND THE MONEY medicineT and public health, however, some of the package’s less heralded provisions might end up having an even bigger impact. Besides providing a A joint explanatory statement temporary $300-per-week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct accompanying the omnibus spending stimulus payment to most Americans, the 5,593-page measure — the longest package touches on several topics ever — increases Medicare support for graduate medical education (GME) for related to academia, including the use of the first time in nearly 25 years, creating 1,000 new Medicare-supported research animals, foreign government residency slots. Priority will be given to teaching hospitals influence, and the preparation of the in rural areas, hospitals training residents over their caps, next generation of physician-scientists. hospitals in states with new medical schools, and hospitals The statement, intended to clarify that care for underserved communities. The Association of congressional intent, calls on the American Medical Colleges labeled the bill “historic,” and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, called the make recommendations for additional GME positions “a necessary and critical first transitioning more quickly to step” toward easing the nation’s looming physician “nonanimal model alternatives” in shortage. “While the nation’s teaching hospitals will research, and it encourages the NIH to continue to invest their own resources to train physicians require grantees to establish post- research adoption policies. It also urges David J. Skorton over their caps,” he said, “these new slots will alleviate some of the pressure they have been facing and will allow the NIH to provide resources to “address them to increase training.” AAMC noted that the spending bill — formally the increasing underrepresentation of known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 — also averts payment black men in medical schools and in the cuts for safety-net hospitals and boosts funding for a number of health-related biomedical research profession.” agencies. Among them: the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Elsewhere, the statement “reminds Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), colleges and universities receiving and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The HSRA federal funds that Section 117 of the allocation encompasses funding bumps for a long list of education initiatives, Higher Education Act requires including Area Health Education Centers; behavioral health workforce training; institutions to disclose certain gifts from children’s hospital graduate medical education; university-based Centers of or contracts with foreign entities and that Excellence, the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students Program; the Rural the Department (of Education) makes Residency Program; and the National Health Service Corps. It also preserves such information publicly available on its the HSRA Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), which, at one point, website.” the Senate had proposed eliminating. READ MORE CLASS OF 2024 BY THE NUMBERS

In a just-released report, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) provides a statistical snapshot of current first-year students. Among the highlights:

WHITE HOUSE 22,239 As longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has Students in the Class of enjoyed a high profile during the COVID-19 pandemic — sometimes at the dismay of his elected bosses. 2024 (all U.S. medical schools combined) ‘Fauci Effect’ or not, med school applications soar irst-year enrollment in U.S. medical schools was up significantly in 2020, but the increase 53,030 in applications for matriculation in 2021 is even steeper. The Association of American Applicants in the pool that F Medical Colleges (AAMC) reports that the number of matriculants rose by 1.7 percent year yielded the class over year, yielding a first-year enrollment of 22,239 students. According to the AAMC’s annual overview of the nation’s medical school population, women continue to outnumber men, and traditionally underrepresented groups are making what the association characterized as “modest gains.” Matriculation increased 8.6 percent among Hispanics, 10.5 percent among 3.73 Blacks, and 7.8 percent among American Indians and Native Alaskans, even though none of Average undergraduate those groups saw an increase in applicants. “We’re moving slowly in the right direction with GPA of the class more students from underrepresented groups entering medical school,” said David J. Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO. “Our goal is to keep increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups until they are no longer underrepresented in medicine.” Meanwhile, 644 the number of students seeking admission to medical school in 2021 jumped by Average number of an unprecedented 18 percent, and nursing programs nationwide have volunteer hours logged reported a 6 percent increase. The surge might be attributable, at by members of the class least in part, to the pandemic’s negative impact on other sectors of the economy and to an abundance of free time that students could use to complete 11,926 applications. Scores of news outlets, however, have Women in the class attributed the spike to the “Fauci Effect,” a reference to Anthony Fauci, MD, who, as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has helped 10,271 spearhead the nation’s response to the COVID-19 Men in the class pandemic. A piece by NPR, for example, gave Fauci (The gender breakdown credit for a 27 percent jump in applications at the Boston doesn’t include University (BU) School of Medicine and a whopping 50 matriculants who percent increase at the Stanford University School of Medicine. declined to self-identify.) Kristen Goodell, BU’s associate dean of admissions, is among those who think Fauci has influenced applicants.“People look at Anthony Fauci — look at the doctors in their community — and say, ‘You know, that is amazing. This is a way for me to make a difference,’” she said. CNN points to an explosion of merchandise bearing Fauci ’s name and/or 22.7 likeness. There are Fauci bobbleheads, Fauci candles, Fauci pillows, Fauci socks, Fauci T-shirts, Percentage of class and, not surprisingly, Fauci face masks. What does Fauci think? “It’s very flattering,” he told members who identified NPR. “Probably a more realistic assessment is that, rather than the ‘Fauci Effect,’ it’s the effect of themselves as Black, a physician who is trying to and hopefully succeeding in having an important impact on an Hispanic, American individual’s health, as well as on global health. So if it works to get more young individuals into Indian, or Native Alaskan medical school, go ahead and use my name. Be my guest.” READ MORE Most schools have altered their application policies, a survey shows he pandemic has prompted most North American medical schools to add more flexibility to their application process, the American Medical Association (AMA) reports. The association cites a Kaplan survey of admissions officers that revealed that 93 percent of respondents had eased — or at least altered — their application policies in theT face of the COVID-19 crisis.“This is not the application cycle that any aspiring doctor could have predicted or wanted when they took their first premed class as a freshman, but medical schools seem to be taking steps to make the process as straightforward as possible under extraordinary conditions,” Petros Minasi, senior director of pre-health programs at Kaplan, told the AMA’s Brendan Murphy. The Kaplan survey suggested that medical schools have, among other things, lowered expectations regarding applicants’ in-person volunteer experience; begun accepting pass-fail grades for prerequisite courses; extended score submission deadlines for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT); and moved admission interviews online. Minasi pointed out, however, that applicants shouldn’t count on a cakewalk. “Premeds should keep in mind that although most medical schools are taking steps to remove roadblocks, that it won’t be any easier to get into medical school than in recent years,” he said. “In fact, with applications surging, it’s more important than ever to put together the strongest application possible.” READ MORE

BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE HEALTH Under a recently announced agreement, more third- and fourth-year medical students from the Texas A&M College of Medicine will complete their clinical training at Dallas’ Baylor University Medical Center (above), operated by Baylor Scott & White Health. Baylor plans to open its first satellite med school in Temple in 2023 he Baylor College of Medicine plans to open a regional medical school in Temple, Texas. The new program, slated to welcome an inaugural class of 40 students in 2023, will occupy a building that currently houses third- and fourth- year students from the Texas A&M College of Medicine. That school is leaving Temple to enhance its presence at BaylorT University Medical Center in Dallas, one of its half-dozen clinical rotation sites. Baylor, which has some 1,500 medical students on its main campus in Houston, will launch its new four-year satellite program in partnership with Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas. “This is our first foray into a regional campus, something we’ve always wanted to do,” said Paul Klotman, MD, president and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine, told the Houston Chronicle. “We’ve watched as many new schools have popped up in Texas. It makes sense for us to lead the effort to address the projected shortage of physicians, to ensure they’re of the highest quality. We’re confident to think we can do that.” Baylor Scott & White Health (BSW), which comprises 52 hospitals and more than 1,000 patient care sites, will provide the bulk of the new school’s funding. “We believe these long-term partnerships will ensure that our patients will have access to breakthrough medical discoveries and cutting-edge treatments from world-class physicians for generations to come,” said Peter J. McCanna, BSW’s president. McCanna said the new Baylor medical school and the healthcare system's expanded relationship with Texas A&M will help address a severe physician shortage in Texas. Thanks to its beefed-up presence at the Baylor University Medical Campus in Dallas, Texas A&M will increase from 200 to 300 the number of medical students training in BSW facilities. Baylor’s announcement follows last year's opening of medical schools at the University of Houston and at Sam Houston State University. READ MORE Universities help lead the immunological counterattack on COVID-19 he counterattack on COVID-19 is underway, thanks to the ongoing distribution of the multiple vaccines that have received emergency-use authorization from regulators around the world. On December 8, just ‘ , ’ TAKE THAT COVID daysT after the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) gave its blessing, 90-year-old British grandmother Margaret Keenan became the first patient in the world to receive BNT-162, the much-anticipated messenger RNA vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. Regulators in Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia quickly followed the MHRA’s lead. On December 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added its provisional endorsement, clearing the way for frontline healthcare workers to begin receiving the vaccine three days later. "I feel hopeful today — relieved. I feel like healing is coming,” Sandra Lindsay, a critical-care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, said after getting her initial dose. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time Chris Hessler, RN, neonatal ICU nurse in our country.” By the end of the month, the FDA had authorized the manager at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, emergency use of a second vaccine, one developed by the American biotech the pediatric teaching hospital for firm Moderna, and the UK’s MHRA had given a green light to a less costly, Washington University School of easier-to-store vaccine produced by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Medicine (WUSM), holds a sign bearing The effort that yielded these vaccines was, by any measure, unprecedented. her sentiments as she receives her initial Vaccine development is an arduous process, typically taking 10 to 15 years. The COVID-19 inoculation on December 17. previous record-holder for speed to market was the mumps vaccine, which gained regulatory approval in 1967 — after four years of development. Universities across the United States — and around the world — played a key role in the development, evaluation, and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines. On March 4, a week before the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, Inside Higher Ed reported that work on a vaccine was already taking place at a number of U.S. institutions, including the University of Texas at Austin, Washington University in St. Louis, Colorado State University, Baylor College of Medicine, and University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Vaccine Research, where Jonas Salk had perfected the polio vaccine nearly seven decades earlier. “The diversity of vaccine candidates and other innovations is really exciting,” said Barry Bloom. PhD, an immunology professor at ’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Everyone With a CNN audience watching live, has a shot of making a contribution, and universities are often where it starts.” Morehouse School of Medicine President While the number of universities developing vaccines was significant, it was and Dean Valerie Montgomery Rice nothing compared to the number of academic medical centers taking part in receives the COVID-19 vaccine at Grady clinical trials. The Phase III trial of Pfizer’s BNT-162, for example, involved more Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. than 40,000 volunteers at 152 sites worldwide. To encourage participation, especially among minority populations, the presidents of two historically black colleges in New Orleans, Walter M. Kimbrough of Dillard University and C. Reynold Verret of Xavier University of Louisiana, signed up for trials and encouraged students to follow suit. “It is of the utmost importance that a significant number of black and brown subjects participate so that the effectiveness of these vaccines be understood across the many diverse populations that comprise these United States,” the campus CEOs said in a joint statement. Once regulators cleared the way for vaccines to be administered, academic health centers were again on the front lines — this time as part of the distribution process. On December 18, Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, president and dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine, sought to underscore the vaccines’ safety by getting her first shot on CNN — during a Robert Johnson, dean of Rutgers live segment with Sanjay Gupta, MD, the network’s chief medical University’s New Jersey Medical School correspondent. To inoculate as many healthcare workers as possible as quickly and interim dean of Rutgers’ Robert as possible, the University of Michigan opened a vaccination clinic in its Wood Johnson Medical School, rolls up 108,000-seat football stadium, The Big House, the largest venue in all of his sleeve in hopes of allaying concerns college football. “We, as a state, have a big mountain to climb with regard to about the safety of the Pfizer vaccine. the number of people who need to be vaccinated, so it is fitting that the “This is one of the most important steps University of Michigan has opened up the Big House for this effort,” says we can take to protect us from the infectious disease specialist Preeti Malani, MD, the university’s chief health devastations of COVID-19,” he said. officer. “Every health care worker we can vaccinate gets us closer to offering vaccines to all.” READ MORE Brown University dean calls for federal oversight of vaccines’ rollout lthough the first batch of successful COVID-19 vaccine candidates reached the market in record time, their rollout to vulnerable populations left much to be desired. One of the most respected figures in academic public health, Ashish Jha, MD, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, says he was “incredibly frustrated,” and took to TwitterA to blast the federal government for failing to provide the states and local hospitals with what he viewed as adequate support. “The worst part is no real planning on what happens when vaccines arrive in states," Jha wrote. "No plan, no money, just hope that states will figure this out.” Jha noted that as recently as December, federal officials projected that 20 million Americans would get their initial shots by the end of the year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, just 2.8 million people were inoculated by December 31 — even though Pfizer and Moderna, the developers of the first two vaccines to receive FDA authorization, had by then shipped more than 14 million doses. “Ultimately,” Jha told The News York Times, “the buck seems to stop with no one.” READ MORE

‘EXCEEDINGLY SCIENCE-FOCUSED’

Rochelle Vivek Marcella Anthony Xavier Jeffrey Natalie Walensky Murthy Nunez-Smith Fauci Becerra Zients Quillian

Incoming administration’s health team boasts academic pedigree resident-elect has reached into the halls of academic medicine and public health to fill key health-related leadership positions in his administration. Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at and chief of General Hospital’s Division of Infectious Diseases, was picked to direct the PCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because her appointment does not require Senate confirmation, Walensky will be able to assume her new responsibilities on Inauguration Day, January 20. “I began my medical career at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and I’ve spent my life ever since working to research, treat, and combat infectious diseases,” Walensky tweeted. “I’m honored to be called to lead the brilliant team at the CDC. We are ready to combat (COVID-19) with science and facts.” Vivek Murthy, MD, who began his medical career as a member of Harvard’s faculty in internal medicine, was nominated to serve as surgeon general, a position he held during the final two years of ’s presidency. "The very best policies, and even the best vaccines and treatments, will not heal our nation unless we also overcome the fear, anxiety, anger and distrust that so many Americans are feeling right now,” Murthy said. Another familiar figure is Anthony Fauci, who will not only remain director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases but also become Biden’s chief medical adviser. Meanwhile, Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, an associate professor of internal medicine, public health, and management and associate dean for health equity research at the Yale School of Medicine, will head up a new White House task force dedicated to health equity. In that role, she will work to ensure that COVID-19 care is distributed equally across racial and socioeconomic lines. Nunez-Smith, who previously was selected to co-chair Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board, said she is “proud to go to work with leaders who are deeply committed to science and to centering equity in our response to the pandemic.” Nancy J. Brown, dean of the Yale School of Medicine, said Nunez-Smith has been at the forefront of health equity research. “Addressing health inequities and ensuring that we meet the needs of our most vulnerable populations is vital to an effective, coordinated response to the current pandemic,” Brown said. Not every member of Biden’s health leadership team, however, comes from higher education or, for that matter, the health professions. Take Xavier Becerra, JD, Biden’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, generally considered the federal government’s top job in the health field. Becerra served 12 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before becoming California's first Latino attorney general in January 2017. Others appointees from outside academia include Jeffrey Zients, an economist who will be Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator, and former Biden Deputy Campaign Manager Natalie Quillian, MA, who will be Zients’ deputy. Saskia Popescu, PhD, MPH, an epidemiologist with appointments at both George Mason University and the University of Arizona, downplayed their lack of leadership experience in medicine and public health. “The Biden-Harris administration has been exceedingly science-focused,” Popescu told STAT, "and often we have leaders with more policy experience to help navigate the field and allow them to listen more closely to the scientists.” READ MORE INNOVATORS PODCAST

“Building a positive legacy from an unthinkable tragedy”

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA Dean, University of California Davis School of Medicine

Recent INNOVATORS podcasts “Conflicting messages create anxiety and confusion,” featuring Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, chief wellness officer and vice president for health promotion at The Ohio State University LISTEN “Designing good health: Biomedical engineering comes of age,” featuring Ajit Yoganathan, PhD, the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Chair in Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology LISTEN “Weighing the strengths and weaknesses of America’s public health system in the time of COVID-19,” featuring Donna Petersen, ScD, dean of the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida LISTEN “Underlying condition? American higher education was under siege long before COVID-19, ” featuring Adrianna Kezar, PhD, director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California LISTEN “Prognosis for higher education in a post-pandemic world,” featuring Santa J. Ono, PhD, president and vice-chancellor of the University of British Columbia LISTEN

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Noma Anderson, PhD, has been named dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) at the University of Vermont. Anderson most recently spent six years as dean of the College of Health Professions at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Before that, Anderson was a professor and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Florida International University where she also served as dean in the School of Health Sciences.

William Bates, MD, MBA, a professor obstetrics and gynecology and director of reproductive endocrinology at Meharry Medical College, has been named founding dean of Belmont University’s planned College of Medicine, effective January 4. Bates, who is also founder and former CEO of digiChart, an electronic medical records company, previously served as vice president for health services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and as dean of the Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine.

Angela Bauer, PhD, has been named vice president of academic affairs at North Carolina’s High Point University. Bauer, who joined High Point in 2013 as chair of the Department of Biology, most recently served as founding dean of the Wanek School of Natural Sciences. A neuroscientist who conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, Bauer formerly taught in the Human Biology Program and the Environmental Science and Policy Graduate Program at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Erika D. Beck, PhD, president of California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI), has been appointed president of California State University, Northridge, effective January 11. Before joining CSUCI, Beck, an experimental psychologist by training, served as provost and executive vice president of Nevada State College in Henderson. Beck began her academic career as a faculty fellow at the University of California-San Diego and as research associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Tammy Beckham, DVM, PhD, director of the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been named vice president of health policy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) at Fort Worth. Beckham, who starts February 1, will also be a professor in the HSC School of Public Health. She was formerly dean of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory.

Leslie M. Beitsch, MD, JD, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine and an affiliate of the Center for Medicine and Public Health, is stepping down from his administrative role January 1. Beitsch, who joined FSU’s faculty in 2003 and became a department chair in 2013, formerly served as commissioner of health for the state of Oklahoma and as deputy secretary for the Florida Department of Health.

Quinn Capers IV, MD, has joined the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as associate dean for faculty diversity and inaugural vice chair for diversity and inclusion in the Department of Internal Medicine. The cardiologist most recently served as vice dean for faculty affairs and professor of internal medicine at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Capers received a 2020 Exemplary Leadership Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Leah Cohen, PhD, has been named first associate vice-president for research at the University of Toronto, a newly created role designed to support scholars across the university's three campuses. Cowen, a noted authority on infectious fungal diseases, is chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics. She is also co-founder and chief scientific officer of the biotechnology firm Bright Angel Therapeutics.

Tracie C. Collins, MD, MPH, has been appointed secretary of the New Mexico Department of Health by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Before assuming her new role December 15, Collins served as dean of the College of Population Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Prior to that, she was Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. Patricia M. Davidson, PhD, RN, dean of the School of Nursing at , has announced plans to step down in April to become vice-chancellor of the University of Wollongong in her native Australia. Davidson, who has served as dean at Johns Hopkins since 2013, oversaw the school as it transitioned to an exclusive focus on graduate-level instruction and introduced a wide range of new programs.

Michael B. Edmond, MD, has joined West Virginia University (WVU) Medicine as new chief medical officer of the WVU Health System and vice dean of clinical affairs for the WVU School of Medicine. The West Virginia native and WVU graduate is also a professor of infectious diseases in the WVU Department of Medicine. Edmond most recently served as chief quality officer, associate chief medical officer, and clinical professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Daniel Erb, PhD, has been named senior vice president of academic affairs at North Carolina’s High Point University. Before joining High Point in 2011 as founding dean of the Congdon School of Health Sciences, Erb was director of graduate studies and associate professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Division in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at . Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has headed High Point’s Health and Safety Task Force.

Debra A. Feakes, PhD, has been named dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. She most recently served as dean of the Shaheen College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Indianapolis. Before that, Feakes spent 24 years as an award-winning faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas State University. She was the department’s associate chair from 2012 to 2018 and its interim chair for one year.

Carol A. Fierke, PhD, provost and executive vice president of Texas A&M University since 2017, has been appointed provost and executive vice president at Brandeis University. She will assume her new duties January 1. Before joining Texas A&M, Fierke was at the University of Michigan, where she served as a professor of biological chemistry and chemistry and held several leadership roles, including chair of the Chemistry Department and vice provost and dean of the Rackham Graduate School.

Heather A. Flynn, PhD, a professor and vice chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine, has been named interim chair of the department. Flynn, a clinical psychologist who also directs the FSU Center for Behavioral Health Integration, succeeds Leslie M. Beitsch, MD, JD, chair since 2013. Flynn, who joined FSU’s faculty in 2011, holds a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a medical degree from the university.

Laurel Fulkerson, PhD, has been named interim vice president for research at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She will succeed Gary K. Ostrander, PhD, who has held the position since 2011. Ostrander announced earlier this year that he would step down in January and return to the faculty of the College of Medicine. Fulkerson, who joined Florida State’s faculty in 2000, has served as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and, since 2018, as associate vice president for research.

Mazyar Fallah, PhD, has been appointed to a five-year term as dean of the College of Biological Science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, effective January 1. He was most recently at Toronto’s York University, where he served as associate dean for research and innovation in the Faculty of Health. Fallah joined York in 2005 as a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health and became associate dean in 2015. He previously was a research fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

Benjamin A. Garcia, PhD, has been named head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Garcia, who is tentatively set to begin July 1, also will become the Raymond H. Wittcoff Distinguished Professor. Garcia is currently at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where he is director of quantitative proteomics and the John McCrea Dickson Presidential Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

Vivek Goel, MD, has been named president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo for a five-year term that begins July 1. Goel is currently helping to lead the University of Toronto’s COVID-19 response as a special advisor to the president and provost and as a professor at Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Goel, who joined the university in 1991 as an assistant professor of preventive medicine and biostatistics, later served as vice-president for academics and as vice-president for research and innovation. Nancy A. Hodgson, PhD, RN, the Anthony Buividas Term Chair in Gerontology and professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, has been named chair of the school’s Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, effective January 1. In 2002, Hodgson co-founded the Palliative Care Program at the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center (formerly the Philadelphia Geriatric Center), one of the first nursing home-based palliative care programs in the nation.

Curtis E. Holloman, MBA, has been appointed executive director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point in North Carolina. Holloman, a native of the state, was formerly deputy director of the Rural Health Policy Center and the Southern Rural Access Program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered the Penn State College of Medicine. Before that, Holloman was health director for two counties in North Carolina: Scotland and Sampson.

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine since 2011, will hold his administrative posts through June 30, 2025, thanks to a just- announced appointment extension. In making the announcement, University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann said Jameson has “done a superb job in leading our integrated academic medical center in its tripartite mission of education, research, and clinical care.”

Joseph R. Johnson, DO, DC, has been appointed interim dean of the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM). Johnson was most recently an administrator at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, where he developed Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Care Outcomes), a program designed to expand specialty care to rural and underserved communities across Oklahoma. Johnson succeeds Peter A. Bell, DO, MBA, who had served as LUCOM’s dean since 2017.

Michael A. Joseph, PhD, MPH, has been appointed vice dean for education at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Joseph, who is scheduled to assume his new responsibilities March 1, also will be an associate professor of epidemiology. Linda Cushman, PhD, and Claire Norton, MPH, have been serving on an interim basis since Julie Kornfeld, PhD, MPH, the school’s vice dean from 2016 to 2020, became Columbia’s vice provost for academic programs.

Tammy Beckham, DVM, PhD, director of the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been named vice president of health policy at the Heidi Krowchuk, PhD, RN, associate dean for academic programs at the School of Nursing at the University of North University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) at Fort Worth. Beckham, who starts February 1, will Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), will serve as the school’s interim dean while the university searches for a permanent also be a professor in the HSC School of Public Health. She was formerly dean of the Kansas State University successor to Robin Remsburg, PhD, RN, who died December 3 after a long illness. Krowchuk is the Eloise R. Lewis College of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. Excellence Professor and an associate professor in the school’s Family and Community Nursing Department.

Steven M. Lepowsky, DDS, has been named dean of the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Dental Medicine. Lepowsky, a professor in the school’s Division of General Dentistry, had been serving as interim dean. He previously was senior associate dean for education and patient care and chair of the Division of General Dentistry. Before joining UConn’s faculty in 1993, Lepowsky was director of the general dentistry residency program at Columbia University, where he earned his dental degree.

Craig W. Lindsley, PhD, the William K. Warren Jr. Chair in Medicine and University Professor of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Chemistry at Vanderbilt University, has been appointed director of the university’s Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery. He assumed the role December 1. Founded in 2003 as the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, the center has secured 90 patents, published some 500 scientific articles, and received more than $200 million in external research funding.

Gregory Lord, DMD, has been named clinic director of the University of Louisville School of Dentistry Dental Clinic on the campus of West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah. The clinic is part of a collaborative arrangement that the two schools announced in January. Lord owned a dental practice in Louisville for 10 years before joining the faculty at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry. Lord, a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, has been practicing since 2004.

Cynthia McCurren, PhD, dean of the Kirkhof College of Nursing at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, for the past 13 years, has been named dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Michigan-Flint. McCurren will assume her new responsibilities March 1. McCurren, chair-elect of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), will succeed Margaret Andrews, PhD, RN, the founding dean of the school, who retired in July. Azedine Medhkour, MD, has joined West Virginia University (WVU) Medicine as a professor and chief of neurosurgery at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Wheeling. He most recently was a professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at Ohio’s University of Toledo Medical Center, where he also directed the neurosurgical and neurophysiology laboratories and oversaw the neurosurgical intensive care unit. Medhkour’s clinical specialties include neuro-oncology and spinal cord dysfunction.

Usha Menon, PhD, RN, has been named dean of the University of South Florida (USF) College of Nursing and senior associate vice president of USF Health. Menon had been serving in an interim capacity since February. Before joining USF Health in 2018 as vice dean of research for the college, Menon was associate dean of research and global advances at the University of Arizona-Tucson College of Nursing and vice dean of the Ohio State University College of Nursing. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

David C. Miller, MD, has been named president of the University of Michigan Health System, effective January 1. Miller, a urologist and surgeon, also will be executive vice dean of clinical affairs for the University of Michigan Medical School. Miller has been chief clinical officer for University Hospital and the Frankel Cardiovascular Center since 2018. Miller succeeds David A. Spahlinger, MD, who is relinquishing his administrative roles at year’s end. Spahlinger will remain a member of the UM faculty.

Adrienne Mitchell, MBA, has been named vice president and chief people officer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. In her new role, which she assumed January 1, Mitchell directs the Human Resources Department and the Office of Faculty Affairs, focusing on the development, well-being, and advancement of faculty and staff. Mitchell previously served as vice president for human resources and information technology at Wayne Health in Detroit. Before that, she held leadership positions at Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago.

Adekunle “Kunle” Odunsi, MD, PhD, has been appointed director of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, effective March 1. Odunsi also will serve as BSD Dean for Oncology and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago. Odunsi is currently deputy director of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, where he also serves as executive director of the Center for Immunotherapy and as the Wallace Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunotherapy.

Geoff Payne, PhD, who has been serving as interim president of the University of Northern British Columbia since February, will stay in the position for two more years while the university’s Board of Governors continues its search for a new president. The panel praised Payne for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. A neuroscientist who specializes in cardiovascular and renal physiology, Payne previously served as the university’s vice-president for research and graduate programs.

Jedan Phillips, MD, an associate professor of family, population, and preventive medicine at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine, has been named associate dean for minority student affairs. Phillips, who joined the school’s faculty in 2005, is faculty advisor for the Stony Brook chapter the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and director of Stony Brook HOME, the school’s student-run outreach clinic. He is also a member of the program’s admissions committee.

Stephanie Puffer, DPT, has been named dean of health sciences at Georgia’s Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, Georgia. Puffer, who has more than 25 years of experience as a clinician and educator, spent the past 11 years as director of the school’s physical therapist assistant (PTA) program. About one-third of Chattahoochee Tech’s students are enrolled in health sciences. Programs include clinical laboratory technology, paramedicine, radiography, surgical technology, occupational therapy, and dental assisting.

Mark Rieger, PhD, has been named provost and executive vice president at Florida Gulf Coast University. He will start in January, replacing Jim Llorens, PhD. Rieger has spent the past eight years as dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, where he also directs the Agricultural Experiment Station. Before that, Rieger served as associate dean and professor in the University of Florida’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Alexander G. Robling, PhD, a professor and researcher at the Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, has been selected to chair the school’s Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiology, effective January 1. Robling, who will also be the Vincent H. Gattone II Professor, joined IU's faculty in 2003 and rose through the ranks to professor in 2015, the same year he received the IU Trustees’ Teaching Award. Robling succeeds Kathryn Jones, PhD, who previously announced plans to retire. Jeffrey Ross, EdD, RN, a professor of nursing at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia, has been named dean of the college’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences, effective January 1. He had been serving in the administrative role in an interim capacity since February. Ross has been teaching nursing at the practical, associate, and baccalaureate levels for more than 15 years. His clinical specialties include surgical nursing, long-term care, nursing management, and hospice care.

Patty Sengstack, DNP, RN, has been named senior associate dean for informatics at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is also an associate professor and nursing informatics executive for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Sengstack formerly served as chief nursing informatics officer for the Bon Secours Health System and as deputy chief information officer and chief of clinical informatics at the National Institutes of Health. She replaces Betsy Weiner, PhD, RN, who is retiring 20 years in the role.

Vanessa Sheane, MN, has been appointed dean of the School of Health, Wellness and Career Studies at Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) in Alberta, Canada. She had been serving in an interim capacity. Sheane, who joined GPRC in 2012, initially taught in the Department of Nursing Education and Health Studies. Before that, she served as a trauma nurse at Grande Prairie’s Queen Elizabeth II Hospital. Sheane is currently completing her doctoral dissertation in nursing at the University of Victoria.

Ashley M. Stokes, DVM, PhD, MBA, associate vice president for engagement and deputy director of extension at Colorado State University, has been named dean of UT Extension in the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. Stokes, a veterinarian, assumes her new responsibilities February 22. She will be the first woman to lead UT Extension, which was established in 1910 to provide Tennesseans with expertise in areas such as agricultural production, natural resources management, and family and consumer sciences.

Melissa Thompson, PhD, professor of sport psychology and coaching in the School of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, has been named associate dean for faculty development in the university's College of Education and Human Sciences. Formerly known as the associate dean for research and graduation education, the role has been revamped to include the oversight of all aspects of curriculum and graduate studies. Thompson joined the university’s faculty in 2008.

Annette Shoba Vincent, PhD, an associate teaching professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), will fill a new position at the institution: associate dean of diversity and climate. In the role, Vincent will oversee CMU-Q’s efforts to become a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable learning and working community. Vincent, who joined the CMU-Q faculty in 2012, has served as program director for Biological Sciences since 2016.

Amy Waer, MD, has been appointed dean of the Texas A&M University College of Medicine, effective January 1. She had been serving in the role in an interim capacity since September 2019. During her tenure as interim dean, Waer continued to operate as the college’s executive dean for education and academic programs. Before joining the college in 2018 as vice dean of education and academic programs, Waer spent 14 years at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and College of Medicine in Tucson.

G. Scott Weston, PhD, MBA, has been named dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Charleston in West Virginia, effective July 1. Weston is currently associate dean for faculty affairs at Harding University College of Pharmacy in Searcy, Arkansas, where he also chairs the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Weston was formerly a professor and associate dean at Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy. He also worked as a senior scientist with firms such as Johnson & Johnson and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Jeff Wichtel, PhD, BVSc, has been appointed to a second five-year term as dean of the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Ontario. He also holds a faculty appointment in the college’s Department of Population Medicine. Prior to joining the University of Guelph, Wichtel was associate dean for graduate studies and research at the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island. He also taught in the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University.

Kirk Wilhelmsen, MD, PhD, has joined West Virginia University (WVU) Medicine as chief of cognitive neurology at the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. He most recently was a distinguished professor of genetics and neurology and director of bioinformatics at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Renaissance Computing Institute in Chapel Hill. Before joining UNC in 2004, Wilhelmsen held faculty positions in neurology at Columbia University and the University of California-San Francisco. LAST WORD

A lot of people tried to discourage me from doing it at the beginning, especially my parents. “They said, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t be spending that kind of money on these cards. That’s ridiculous.’ I didn’t listen — and it paid off.”

— University of North Georgia junior Caleb King, in an interview with Atlanta’s WAGA-TV, discussing his decision to sell part of his collection of Pokemon trading cards to help cover future medical school expenses — a decision that yielded $80,000

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