President Barbara R. Snyder and Provost Ben Vinson III announced today that they have appointed Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Stan Gerson to serve as interim dean for the medical school and interim senior vice president for medical affairs.
Both appointments are effective July 1.
Gerson, also director of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine and a Distinguished University Professor, co-chaired the School of Medicine’s dean search until President Snyder accepted the opportunity to lead the Association of American Universities (AAU) in the fall.
Given that the medical school accounts for roughly 80% of university research and has key relationships with area hospitals, President Snyder concluded that her successor should have the opportunity to select the school’s next dean in conjunction with the provost. Provost Vinson agreed, and the two quickly settled quickly on Gerson as the best choice to serve as interim dean.
“Stan has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in guiding the cancer center,” President Snyder said. “Today it is among a select few to have received the National Cancer Institute’s highest rating, an achievement that testifies to his great strengths in in building collaborations around strategic priorities.”
Gerson came to Case Western Reserve in 1983 after completing a residency and fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The first recruit to a new Division of Hematology Oncology, he went on to lead the Stem Cell Biology Center for more than a decade before becoming the cancer center’s director in 1984. Today the center includes 370 members who come from seven schools and 68 academic departments.
“This medical school and university have been my professional home for more than 30 years,” Gerson said. “I am honored by the confidence that the president and provost have placed in me, and committed to do all that I can to support and advance the school during this time.”
Gerson will continue to serve as the cancer center’s director while leading the medical school; in the coming months he will appoint an additional deputy director to assist in managing its daily operations during his time as interim dean.
“We are profoundly grateful that Stan has agreed to assume this interim role,” Provost Vinson said. “In addition to his outstanding leadership of the cancer center, he is widely renowned for his own research, highly regarded by our hospital partners, and well-liked and respected among campus colleagues. I very much look forward to working with him.”
The Asa and Patricia Shiverick–Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology, Gerson has published more than 220 journal articles, 260 abstracts and 29 book chapters. He is the co-author of Clinical Hematology, and co-editor of Cancer Gene Therapy, now in its third edition. He holds several patents related to gene therapy and cancer drug development, and his discoveries have been licensed to at least three companies. Last year, his achievements earned election as a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors; he is also the immediate past president of the American Association of Cancer Institutes and a member of the Association of American Physicians, an organization of senior physician scientists who are competitively selected.
Gerson will succeed Pamela B. Davis, who has led the school since 2006 and returns to the faculty full time as of July 1. The university is planning a celebration of her accomplishments and will provide additional details as they are finalized.