Mark Anderson Appointed Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Biological Sciences
To: Members of the University Community
From: Paul Alivisatos, President
Subject: Mark Anderson Appointed Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Biological Sciences
Date: July 19, 2022
I am pleased to announce that Mark Anderson, MD, PhD, has been named the University’s new Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean of the Division of the Biological Sciences, and Dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine, effective October 1, 2022.
In this role Dr. Anderson will lead the medical and biological research, education, care delivery, and community engagement enterprise for UChicago Medicine, the Division of the Biological Sciences, and the Pritzker School of Medicine. Reporting to me, he will work closely with the University and University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) Boards, UCMC and BSD leaders and faculty, the Provost and other Deans and Officers to lead a transformation agenda aimed at driving growth of UChicago Medicine and integrating the academic and clinical programs to leverage the strengths of each and enhance the impact of UChicago Medicine.
An accomplished researcher, cardiac expert, and physician, Mark joins us from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he is currently director of the Department of Medicine, the William Osler Professor of Medicine, and physician-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. In this role, he oversees more than 700 full-time faculty members and clinicians across 18 academic divisions, nearly 3,000 staff members and trainees, 300,000 clinic visits, and a research portfolio of more than $200 million in the last year. At Johns Hopkins, Mark led the Department of Medicine’s efforts in securing philanthropy, raising approximately $20 million to $40 million annually.
His research team has contributed to fundamental understanding of molecular pathways causing abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure. These findings have led to translational efforts to develop new and improved drugs, potentially benefitting millions of patients worldwide. He is a renowned scholar with more than 160 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and book reviews published.
Mark is an extraordinarily talented and globally respected medical leader who is committed to an ambitious agenda of basic, translational and clinical research, while preparing the next generation of scholars, clinicians and leaders in biological sciences and academic medicine. Mark is in a strong position to lead growth of our clinical enterprise and will have a significant focus on the expansion of UCM’s regional health system. He also understands the importance of delivering high-quality and compassionate care to patients and the communities we serve, addressing health inequities, and expanding access to care for residents in Chicago’s South Side and beyond.
Before joining Johns Hopkins in 2014, Mark led the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Iowa and successively served as director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and the Department of Medicine. Prior to this, Mark served on the medical faculty at Vanderbilt University, directing the cardiology training program and the clinical arrhythmia service. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology with honors from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and both his Ph.D. in physiology and his M.D. from the University of Minnesota. He completed his internal medicine residency and fellowships in cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Stanford University. He has been included over many years in the Castle and Connolly listing of the top doctors in the U.S. Mark was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.
As previously communicated, Kenneth Polonsky will become Senior Advisor to the President at the end of September 2022, and will remain a tenured faculty member in the BSD. I am deeply grateful for Kenneth’s leadership in advancing UChicago Medicine’s and the BSD’s position at the forefront of medical care, education, and discovery.
My sincere thanks goes to those who served on the University and Trustee search advisory committees for this process.
Please join me in congratulating Mark on his new role and welcoming him to the University.