May 14,
2007
Taubman named chair of Medicine
A national search for a new chair of medicine at the
School of Medicine and Dentistry has led to the selection of Mark Taubman,
the school’s current chief of cardiology. The appointment is expected
to be approved at the next meeting of the University Board of Trustees.
Taubman began serving as chairman and Charles E. Dewey
Professor of Medicine effective May 1, overseeing the single largest
department within the medical school. He also will continue serving as
director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute. According to Jeffrey
Peters, chair of the Department of Surgery who led the search process,
Taubman’s selection was a natural choice for the search committee.
“The Medical Center searched wide and hard for
our new chief of medicine, and carefully considered some of the best
candidates in the country,” Peters says. “After nearly nine
months of effort, in the end the search committee felt strongly and
unanimously that we had the right mix of leadership, skill, talent, and
humanism in one of our own—Dr. Mark Taubman.”
“Mark is an accomplished researcher, clinician,
and educator, nationally recognized in all three areas,” says David
Guzick, dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry. “He has the
knowledge, experience, personality, drive, and depth of commitment to be a
stellar chair of medicine.”
Taubman joined the University as chief of cardiology
in 2003 from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is credited with
significantly advancing that school’s M.D.-Ph.D. program. Since
Taubman took over leadership of cardiology, overall funding for research in
the unit has increased by 11.8 percent, going from $8.5 million to $9.5
million by the end of 2006. He’s also been the guiding force behind
the expansion of cardiac patient care services, faculty recruitment,
strengthening treatments for those with heart arrhythmias and heart
failure, adding new preventive cardiology programs such as the
women’s heart program, and forging strong regional services.
“The Department of Medicine has a storied
history,” says Taubman. “I am honored and delighted to be the
next in what has been a list of outstanding academic medicine chairs. The
launch of the new Medical Center strategic plan and the Clinical and
Translational Medicine Institute make this a particularly exciting time to
be at the helm of the department and will provide unprecedented growth
opportunities.”
As chair of medicine, Taubman succeeds Bradford Berk,
who became senior vice president for health sciences and CEO of the Medical
Center and Strong Health last August.
“Mark has clearly earned the respect of his
colleagues within the Department of Medicine and across the country. He is
a brilliant scientist, skilled administrator, and an accomplished clinician
and teacher,” Berk says. “He is the ideal person to lead the
department and help the Medical Center take full advantage of the
opportunities that lie ahead.”
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