Comings and Goings ================== ## MICHAEL KLAG NAMED DEAN OF BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Michael Klag, MD, MPH, has assumed the position of dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. On September 1, 2005, Klag replaced Dean Alfred Sommer, the dean since 1990. Klag is an internationally known expert on the epidemiology and prevention of heart and kidney disease and has been a Johns Hopkins faculty member since 1987. Klag is the David M. Levine Professor of Medicine in the university's School of Medicine, with joint appointments in the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology and Department of Health Policy and Management. He is vice dean for clinical investigation in the School of Medicine. In that position, he has undertaken a widely praised restructuring of the school's policies and procedures governing human subjects research. He is a 1974 graduate of Juniata College and earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 and his MPH from Johns Hopkins in 1987. That same year, he joined the university's faculty as instructor of medicine and director of the clinical track of the preventive medicine residency program at what was then known as the School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was a founding member and interim director of the university's Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research and director of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the School of Medicine. Klag was one of the first epidemiologists to start to unravel the risk factors in, prevalence of, and effective intervention strategies for, kidney disease. He has also focused on the role of ethnicity in disease, searching, for instance, for explanations of the different risks among different groups for developing high blood pressure. Since 1988, Klag has directed the Precursors Study, a project begun in 1946 that tracks the health of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni over many years to uncover risk factors and diagnostic markers for various diseases. ## EDWARD ABRAHAM CHAIR OF UAB DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE ![Figure.](/https://d3hme472k3gd2d.cloudfront.net/content/jim/53/8/392/F1.medium.gif) [Figure.](/content/53/8/392/F1) Figure. Edward Abraham Edward Abraham, MD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine. A pulmonary and critical care medicine expert, Abraham now heads the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine and is vice chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. Abraham will succeed William J. Koopman, MD, UAB distinguished professor and chairman emeritus, who stepped down last July after 11 years as the department's chair. Abraham will assume his UAB duties on March 1, 2006. Abraham is a former Fulbright fellow who spent 2 years at the Pasteur Institute in Paris early in his career before going on to gain prominence in the faculties of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Colorado, where he has been since 1993. Abraham completed his undergraduate studies with honors at Amherst College and Stanford University, from which he received his medical degree in 1978. He did his internship and residency in internal medicine at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles before doing fellowships there in emergency medicine and critical care medicine. Abraham's numerous professional activities include serving as editor of the *American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine*, the major international journal in this field, and as an associate editor of the *Journal of Immunology*. He is a member of the editorial boards of *Critical Care Medicine*, *Intensive Care Medicine*, *Critical Care*, *Advances in Sepsis*, and *WebMD/Medscape Pulmonary Medicine*. He also serves on a number of key national panels and committees of the National Institutes of Health, including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. ## BRYAN NOE NEW DEAN OF UAB GRADUATE SCHOOL Bryan D. Noe, PhD, interim dean of the graduate school at Emory University, has been named dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Graduate School. Noe joined UAB on November 1, 2005. He has been interim dean of the graduate school at Emory since June 2003. ![Figure.](/https://d3hme472k3gd2d.cloudfront.net/content/jim/53/8/392/F2.medium.gif) [Figure.](/content/53/8/392/F2) Figure. Bryan D. Noe Noe has served in a variety of capacities at Emory since joining the university as an assistant professor of anatomy in 1972. In 1977, he was promoted to associate professor before becoming professor of anatomy and cell biology in 1983. He directed graduate studies for the department from 1977 to 1991, when he became director of the graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, a position he held until 2003. Noe's research focuses on the mechanisms by which cells in living organisms make protein hormones by processing larger precursors into smaller products that regulate biologic processes. ## VANDERVEEN NAMED SCHOOL OF PHARMACY DEAN Randall L. “Pete” Vanderveen, professor of pharmacy at Duquesne University, has been named dean of the University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy. He will oversee graduate and doctoral programs that range from basic molecular mechanisms and toxicology to clinical investigation and from drug development and delivery systems to pharmaceutical economics. Vanderveen succeeds Timothy Chan, who had served as dean since February 1, 1995. He comes to USC from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he has been a professor of pharmacy practice and dean of both the Mylan School of Pharmacy and the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences within the Mylan School for the past 7 years. During Vanderveen's tenure at Mylan, the school rose to third in the nation in funding from the National Institutes of Health among all private schools of pharmacy. The school also saw enrolment more than double in the master of science and doctor of philosophy programs in pharmaceutical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutics, and pharmacology-toxicology. Vanderveen earned a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy and a master's degree in clinical pharmacy from Purdue University in the 1970s. He earned his doctorate in university administration from Michigan State University in 1987 and graduated from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Leadership Development Program at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 1998. Vanderveen started his formal teaching career at Ferris State University in Michigan in the mid-1970s and was named chair of the Clinical Pharmacy Department before he was 30 years old. He took a job as assistant dean for pharmacy practice at Oregon State University in 1988 and helped develop the school's first doctor of pharmacy program. He started at Duquesne University in 1998. ## ELLEN WALD NAMED CHAIR OF PEDIATRICS AT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Ellen Wald, MD, has been named the new chair of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Medical School and physician-in-chief at the UW Children's Hospital. She will assume her duties in January 2006. Wald comes to Madison from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, where she is currently chief of allergy, immunology, and infectious diseases. She is an internationally recognized expert on the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric infectious diseases and has conducted research in the areas of sinusitis, otitis media, group A streptococcal infections, urinary tract infections, and bacterial meningitis. In addition to her post at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Wald is professor of pediatrics and otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she first became an assistant professor in 1978. She is chair of the section of infectious diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the sub-board of infectious diseases of the American Board of Pediatrics. Wald earned her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn and her fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. In 1997, Wald received the Pediatrician of the Year award from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and in 2001, she was honored with the Howard Mermelstein Award for Excellence in Pediatrics. She has been recognized for her teaching ability on many occasions, including in 2001, when she received the Children's Resident Teaching Award. Wald will succeed Christopher Green, MD, who has served as acting chair of pediatrics since 2004, when former pediatrics chair Aaron Friedman, MD, left the UW to assume the chairmanship of pediatrics at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. ## GERALD DAL PAN NAMED NEW FDA DIRECTOR OF DRUG SAFETY The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the selection of Gerald J. Dal Pan, MD, MHS, as director of the Office of Drug Safety in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). Dal Pan will lead the agency's postmarketing drug safety program. As the director of the Office of Drug Safety, Dal Pan will be at the center of critical issues facing the nation on the safe and appropriate use of medications. He will work closely with stakeholders, including patient and consumer groups, the health care community, and Congress; develop and maintain international and national contacts with regulators; implement policies and initiatives related to adverse drug events (such as the Drug Safety Oversight Board and the Medwatch program), and represent FDA and CDER in scientific and regulatory matters related to drug safety and risk management. Dal Pan is currently the director of the Division of Surveillance, Research, and Communication Support, Office of Drug Safety in CDER, a position he has held since 2003. Dal Pan joined the agency in 2000 and spent 3 years as a medical reviewer in the Division of Anesthetic Critical Care and Addiction Drug Products before moving to the Office of Drug Safety as a division director. Prior to joining CDER, Dal Pan directed clinical research, including clinical trial design and interpretation of clinical data. He served on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he conducted clinical research in addition to teaching medical students. He continues there as a part-time assistant professor in the Department of Neurology. In addition to the appointment as the new director of drug safety, as part of his annual state of CDER address to center employees, CDER director Steven Galson, MD, outlined a proposed Center reorganization to better align staff functions with CDER's goals and the FDA's public health mission. The goals of the proposed reorganization include positioning CDER to fully participate in the Critical Path Initiative and improve regulatory and drug development science, increasing the visibility of the sustained, multidisciplinary, cross-center approach to drug safety that engages more than 50% of CDER's resources, and centralizing risk communication efforts to ensure the efficiency and consistency of CDER's important public health messages. ## THOMAS YOSHIKAWA ASSUMES NEW ROLES AT DREW UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Board of Trustees selected Thomas Yoshikawa, MD, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, to fill the newly created position of provost/chief operating officer and acting president, effective July 1, 2005. Yoshikawa functions as the chief academic officer of Drew University and is responsible for all academic administration, faculty appointments and promotions, and development of academic policies and programs. As one of his first duties, Yoshikawa announced the appointment of Ronald A. Edelstein, EdD, as acting dean of the College of Medicine; Vidya Kaushik, MD, as acting chair of the Department of Internal Medicine; and Nancy Hanna, MD, as associate dean for graduate medical education. Affiliated with the Department of Internal Medicine since 1995, Yoshikawa received his bachelor's degree in 1962 from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and his medical degree in 1966 from the University of Michigan. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship in infectious diseases at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Presently, Yoshikawa is the editor of the *Journal of the American Geriatric Society*. ## ANDREW VON ESCHENBACH'S FDA APPOINTMENT CONSIDERED TEMPORARY ![Figure.](/https://d3hme472k3gd2d.cloudfront.net/content/jim/53/8/392/F3.medium.gif) [Figure.](/content/53/8/392/F3) Figure. Andrew von Eschenbach The switch by Andrew von Eschenbach from director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is only temporary, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. Leavitt predicted that von Eschenbach would continue his leadership of NCI once his commission with the FDA has concluded. President George W. Bush named von Eschenbach acting FDA commissioner after former agency commissioner Lester Crawford resigned last month. von Eschenbach indicated that he would take a temporary leave of absence as director of the NCI to address conflict-of-interest concerns. Leavitt said that von Eschenbach likely will resume his position at NCI after Bush names a permanent commissioner.