After a year-long nationwide search, John Wysolmerski, MD, has been appointed chief of the Section of Endocrinology & Metabolism.
“I am excited but humbled,” said Wysolmerski. “I have been at Yale for the terms of three section chiefs: Howard Rasmussen, MD, PhD; Arthur Broadus, MD, PhD; and Robert Sherwin, MD; who are giants in the field. I have big shoes to fill.”
Wysolmerski earned his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine (YSM) in 1986, and returned to New Haven after completing his internship and residency at New England Medical Center and working as a clinical instructor at Tufts University Medical School. In 1993, he completed his fellowship in endocrinology at YSM, and rose through the academic ranks to be named full professor in 2008.
Since 2011, Wysolmerski has served in leadership positions within YSM and Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), as associate program director for Physician-Scientist Programs for the Internal Medicine Residency for YSM and YNHH, and associate chief of research within the Section of Endocrinology & Metabolism. In the fall of 2018, he took over the interim section chief duties following the retirement of Robert Sherwin, MD.
“After I became interim chief, the endocrine faculty created a five-year vision plan encompassing our three missions of education, clinical care, and research. We collectively identified the need to expand our clinical practice in a thoughtful way, maximizing our educational and research opportunities within the growing Yale New Haven Health System as well as to reinvigorate and broaden our research base by recruiting new physician/scientists,” said Wysolmerski.
In addition to his work as section chief, Wysolmerski leads an active research program concentrating on the roles of parathyroid hormone related-protein (PTHrP), the calcium sensing receptor and the calcium pump, PMCA2, during normal mammary gland development and breast cancer. As a medical student, he contributed to early studies identifying PTHrP as a cause of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy and as a faculty member, discovered that PTHrP was required for embryonic mammary gland development and for the normal bone loss that occurs during lactation. His current focus is on how signaling pathways that regulate lactation physiology contribute to the formation of breast cancers and to the development of complications such as hypercalcemia, cachexia, and bone metastases.
Wysolmerski’s research program has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health for the past 28 years and his academic accomplishments have been recognized by induction into the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Sir William Osler Young Investigator Award from the Interurban Clinical Club (ICC) and subsequent election to membership in the ICC. He has published over 100 scientific papers, has served on multiple editorial boards and has been an associate editor of the Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia since its inception in 1999. He served as ICC councilor for New Haven, and became president of the organization in 2010. He has also served on multiple grant review committees including as a standing member of the Integrative and Clinical Endocrinology and Reproduction Study Section [ICER] within the National Institutes of Health.
Wysolmerski noted that he is eager to implement the collective vision of the section per their five-year plan and is grateful for the honor of leading one of the nation’s premier endocrine sections.
“John cares deeply about the section and department, and will excel in this position,” said Department Chair Gary V. Desir, MD, Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine and Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity. “He is a key leader within the department. His research and national recognition speaks for itself, and I am happy that he is now officially in this role.”
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