Year in review 2010: Additions, promotions bolster leadership team

12/16/2010 – Jill Austin, MBA, chief marketing officer for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was named assistant vice chancellor for Strategic Marketing and chief marketing officer in July.
Since assuming responsibility for all marketing functions at VUMC last summer, Austin and her team have continued to build upon Vanderbilt’s position as the preferred health care provider in the region.

Nancy Brown, M.D., associate dean for Clinical and Translational Scientist Development, the Robert H. Williams Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, was named chair of the Department of Medicine in August. Brown becomes the first female chair and only the eighth chair of the department since 1925. She succeeds Eric Neilson, M.D., who stepped down as chair in January after leading the department for 12 years.

In November, Kevin Cain was named director of Federal Relations, Health and Biomedical Sciences, serving as Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s representative in Washington, D.C. Cain is responsible for furthering Vanderbilt’s federal advocacy priorities and objectives with respect to academic medicine, health policy, biomedical research and advanced practice nursing.

Michael DeBaun, M.D., M.P.H., of Washington University School of Medicine, joined Vanderbilt in November as professor of Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology, vice chair for Clinical Affairs for the Department of Pediatrics, and and director of the newly formed Vanderbilt-Meharry Center for Excellence in Sickle Cell Disease.

In February, Debra Friedman, M.D., was named director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology at Vanderbilt University. Friedman had previously served as interim director.

Luke Gregory, assistant vice chancellor for Health Affairs and chief business development officer for VUMC, was named interim CEO of Children’s Hospital in September.

In March, F. Peter (Fred) Guengerich, Ph.D., the Harry Pearson Broquist Professor of Biochemistry and director of the Center in Molecular Toxicology, was named to serve as interim chair of the Department of Biochemistry when Michael Waterman, Ph.D., announced he would step down in July to focus on his research.

Becky Keck, M.S.N., R.N., was named to the newly created role of senior associate dean for Administration and Operations, and chief administrative officer at VUSN in February.

In August, Arnold Malcolm, M.D., was named chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Radiation Oncology. Malcolm has served as interim chair since May 2009 following the departure of Dennis Hallahan, M.D.

Sarah Ramsey, M.Ed., was promoted in February to the position of assistant dean for Student Affairs at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Ramsey has served in various capacities at the school for more than 17 years and held the position of director of Student Affairs since 1995.

Warren Sandberg, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, became chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at VUMC in April. Sandberg joined the Harvard faculty in 1998. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Chicago in 1991, and his M.D. from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine in 1994.

Mavis Schorn, Ph.D., C.N.M., was named assistant dean for Academics at VUSN in September. In this newly created role, Schorn assists senior associate dean Linda Norman, D.S.N., R.N., with coordination and implementation of academic initiatives that require collaboration with other schools and programs within Vanderbilt and across the health care community.

Gaye Smith, who has served as Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Chief Privacy and Health Record Official for the past seven years, was named Chief Patient Experience and Service Officer. In the expanded role, Smith continues with her privacy and health record duties.

In January, William Tansey, Ph.D., was been named interim chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He succeeded Susan Wente, Ph.D., who took on greater responsibilities as associate vice chancellor for Research and senior associate dean for Biomedical Sciences.

Zachary Warren, Ph.D., was named director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD) and of Autism Clinical Services for Vanderbilt Pediatrics’ Division of Developmental Medicine.