Announcing the Search Committee for our Next Dean and VP for Medical Affairs

Dear Members of the SLU Community, 

On November 30, I wrote to inform you of changes in leadership at our Medical Center. I wrote that I was appointing Dr. Robert Wilmott Acting Dean and Vice President for Medical Affairs and would soon begin an internal search for the next Dean and VPMA. I also indicated the reasons why I decided on an internal search. 

In that message, I stated that a search committee would be announced in January, with the expectation of appointing the next Dean and VPMA no later than April 1. The appointment will run until December 31, 2021. At the end of 2020, we will begin a national search for the next dean and VPMA. 

Today, I am announcing that a committee has been formed to conduct this search. The members of the search committee are: 

• Enrico Di Cera, M.D., Alice A. Doisy Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Interim Vice Dean for Research for the School of Medicine, and Deputy Vice President for Research 
• Aaron Dotson, Third Year Medical Student
• Matthew Hanley, M.D., Chief Clinical Officer, SSM Health
• T. Scott Isbell, Ph.D., DABCC, FAACC, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Director of Clinical Chemistry, and Director of Point Care Testing; President, School of Medicine Faculty Assembly
• William Kauffman, J.D., Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of the University
• Marilyn Maxwell, M.D., Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
• George Paz, Trustee
• Howard Place, M.D., Professor and Acting Chair, Orthopedic Surgery Spinal Deformity and Reconstructive Spine Surgery, Interim Director of the Institute of Neurological Diseases
• Theresa Schwartz, M.D., Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and Associate Director of the General Surgery Residency Program
• Sameer Siddiqui, M.D., Associate Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Surgery
• David Suwalsky, S.J., Director of Academic Initiatives, Mission and Identity
• Gary Whitworth, Associate Dean of Finance, School of Medicine
• Mardell Wilson, Ed.D., RD, LDN, Dean of Doisy College of Health Sciences  

I convened the committee this morning. The search will begin immediately. The search process will be open and inclusive. The search committee plans to engage faculty, staff, students and other important stakeholders in the weeks and months ahead.  

The search committee will name a chair and will keep our community apprised of its work as the search process moves forward. 

Sincerely,  

Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.
President