Nancy J. Brown, MD, officially took office this morning as the 19th dean of Yale School of Medicine, succeeding Robert J. Alpern, MD, who had led the school since 2004. She is the first woman to lead the medical school in its 210-year history.
Brown, who is Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Medicine and C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine, comes to Yale from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where she was Hugh J. Morgan Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine. An alumna of the Yale College Class of 1981, Brown earned her medical degree at Harvard University and completed her residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in clinical pharmacology at Vanderbilt. She joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1992, and served as chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and associate dean for clinical and translational scientist development before becoming chair of Medicine in 2010.
At a reception for faculty on January 27, Brown described how welcome she has felt when meeting members of the school community. She said she begins her journey as dean in “an incredible place, due largely to the leadership of Bob Alpern,” whom she thanked for his kindness during the school’s first transition to a new dean in nearly 16 years.
Brown told the audience, which filled the Medical Historical Library, that as she begins her term as dean, she is “looking forward to realizing much of the work that you have already done in committees on workplace climate, taking advantage of the new research space that we have, and creating a supportive environment for our physician-scientists.”
“There is so much that we are going to do together,” she added, “and I am delighted to walk this journey with you.”