Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has appointed a 12-member committee to conduct a national search for the new chair of the Department of Medicine.
The committee will be led by Seth Karp, MD, H. William Scott Jr. Professor of Surgery and chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences.
The new Department of Medicine chair will succeed Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, MMHC, who stepped down from her role as the department’s leader in November 2023 to serve as director of the National Cancer Institute.
Upon Rathmell’s departure, Jane Freedman, MD, Gladys Parkinson Stahlman Professor of Cardiovascular Research, professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, was named to serve as interim chair for the Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief for VUMC.
“As our largest clinical department, the continued growth and success of the Department of Medicine is fundamental to so many aspects of our future. I want to thank Dr. Freedman for her leadership as interim chair while Dr. Karp and other members of the search committee complete the important work ahead,” said Balser.
The Department of Medicine currently includes 1,034 faculty in 13 academic divisions and several interdisciplinary centers, who are joined by 558 trainees, including 259 clinical and postdoctoral fellows, 151 residents and 148 graduate students.
The department’s clinicians see patients in 19 counties across Middle Tennessee as well as the surrounding region. There were 86,096 outpatient visits for fiscal year 2024, an increase of more than 25,000 visits over fiscal year 2023.
In 2024, the department’s overall research funding reached its first-ever ranking as No. 1 in National Institutes of Health funding at $266 million, a notable increase from last year.
Other members of the search committee are:
Lee Ann Liska, MBA, President and Chief Operating Officer, Vanderbilt University Hospital
Wendy Monaci, MBA, Executive Vice President for Adult Ambulatory Operations
Dane Chetkovich, MD, Margaret and John Warner Professor of Neurological Education and chair of the Department of Neurology
Wesley Self, MD, MPH, VUMC Vice President for Clinical Research Networks & Strategy, and vice chair for Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine
Eric Shinohara, MD, MSCI, professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology
Kyla Terhune, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President for Educational Affairs
Michael DeBaun, MD, MS, MPH, professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, vice chair of Clinical Research and Translational Research and holder of the J.C. Peterson, MD, Chair in Pediatrics
David Cortez, PhD, Richard N. Armstrong, PhD, Professor of Innovation and chair of the Department of Biochemistry
Debra Friedman, MD, MS, E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Pediatric Oncology and deputy director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
David Wallace, MD, MPH, George Weeks Hale Professor of Ophthalmology, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and director of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute
Donald Brady, MD, Executive Vice President for Educational Affairs for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and executive vice dean for Academic Affairs for Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
