Kelly Dooley, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, has been named Chair of the Department of Medicine at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and Physician-in-Chief at Brown University Health in Providence, Rhode Island. Her last day at Vanderbilt Health, where she holds the Addison B. Scoville Jr. Chair in Medicine, will be Sept. 30.
A national search will be conducted to identify Dooley’s successor as director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and an interim director will be announced at a later date.
Dooley, a physician-scientist whose research has helped reshape the global treatment of tuberculosis and HIV, joined Vanderbilt Health in September 2022 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she had been a faculty member since 2010.
During her four years leading the Division of Infectious Diseases, the division’s faculty and advanced practice providers grew from 62 to 73. In fiscal year 2025, clinical productivity increased 21% over the prior year, while inpatient consults rose 47% over a four-year span. Federal research funding rose from $79 million to $87 million annually, as several PhD and physician-scientists were recruited to the faculty. The division’s fellowship program has thrived, and the transplant infectious diseases subspecialty fellowship, one of very few in the country, has been rejuvenated.
Under Dooley’s leadership, the division expanded its clinical footprint substantially, fielding 11 inpatient teams on any given day across eight hospitals. In collaboration with clinical leadership in her division, including Karen Bloch, MD, MPH, and Titus Daniels, MD, MPH, MMHC, Dooley expanded the division’s reach to community hospitals through in-person and telemedicine consult services.
Dooley grew the transplant infectious diseases program from two to seven providers, including recruitment of a nationally known leader for the program, Maricar Malinis, MD. In partnership with other VH groups, she launched new multidisciplinary specialty clinics in nontuberculous mycobacteria and bronchiectasis (now recognized as a regional center of excellence) and musculoskeletal infectious diseases, while expanding infectious diseases involvement in multidisciplinary wound care and stem cell transplant clinics. Outpatient visits in infectious diseases multidisciplinary clinics grew 106% from fiscal year 2021 to 2025.
Dooley is an internationally recognized authority on tuberculosis therapeutics and clinical pharmacology, with a focus on development of novel therapeutic regimens for TB and improving treatment outcomes for patients with TB and HIV coinfection. She has served as a consultant and advisor to the World Health Organization on TB treatment guidelines and has co-authored some 130 original research articles.
“Kelly Dooley is an extraordinary physician-scientist and skillful leader who has made a profound impact on our Division of Infectious Diseases and on Vanderbilt as a whole,” said Anna Hemnes, MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine and Elsa S. Hanigan Professor of Pulmonary Medicine. “Her scientific contributions to tuberculosis treatment have been transformative, and her vision for building collaborative, patient-centered research and multidisciplinary care programs has strengthened our department and impacted the entire Medical Center. Under her leadership, the division grew in every dimension — in faculty, in research funding, in clinical reach, and in its national reputation. While we will miss her greatly, we congratulate her on this well-deserved next step in her career and have every confidence she will excel in her new role at Brown.”
Dooley earned her BA in economics from Northwestern University and went on to complete premedical studies at the University of Pennsylvania before earning her MD from Duke University. She earned her Master of Public Health degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins, where she also earned her PhD in clinical investigation. Earlier in her career, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chad.
“My years at Vanderbilt have been deeply rewarding,” Dooley said. “I am grateful for the opportunities Vanderbilt has afforded me and for the institution’s faith in my leadership and investment in my professional growth over the years.
“I am especially thankful for the wonderful division whom I’ve had the pleasure of serving. I am grateful to the many colleagues, trainees and staff who have made the Division of Infectious Diseases such a special place. I am proud of what we have accomplished together — from expanding our clinical services into communities that lacked access to infectious disease specialists to strengthening our research enterprise and training the next generation of physician-scientists. I leave knowing the division is well positioned for continued excellence. I am excited about the opportunity to lead the Department of Medicine at Brown, but I will always value the relationships and accomplishments we have shared at Vanderbilt.”
Dooley also maintains an active clinical practice at VH.
