Claire Pomeroy, an expert in infectious diseases, medical informatics and eating disorders from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington, has joined the UC Davis School of Medicine faculty as executive associate dean.
As second in command at the School of Medicine, Pomeroy has a broad range of responsibility and executive authority. Along with Dean Joseph Silva, Jr., she will oversee a $220 million operating budget and will work with the other leadership, faculty, staff and trainees to integrate the teaching, research patient care and community service missions within the school and medical center, as well as with other schools and colleges on the Davis campus. The school has 525 faculty, 2,500 volunteer clinical faculty, 715 interns, residents and fellows, and 1,000 staff employees.
"In our national search for a new executive associate dean, Pomeroy quickly rose to the top of our list of candidates," said Silva. "Her portfolio of administrative and academic skills is superb, and her results-oriented approach and diverse background in basic research, clinical care, faculty development and medical informatics make her an excellent addition to our leadership team. Her clinical and basic research expertise in opportunistic infections, AIDS, eating disorders and women's health are a great complement to many of our existing programs, and her experience in bringing the latest information management systems into the hands of practicing physicians will serve us well as we transition from film and paper to a fully integrated electronic medical record and information system."
"I am very excited to be at UC Davis," said Pomeroy. "UC Davis has tremendous strengths in research and clinical care that can truly advance the practice of medicine and improve community and public health. I look forward to being part of the team that is making critical and unique contributions to medicine and health on both the local and global level. The focus of my job will be on ensuring that the organization provides an environment that optimizes each person's ability to grow and contribute to their full potential."
At the University of Kentucky, Pomeroy was an associate dean for research and informatics and professor of infectious diseases. She established the Office of Research and Leadership Development to support junior faculty at the University, worked closely with the state legislature to establish laws to improve access to medical care for AIDS patients and the disenfranchised, and led the planning for an electronic medical record and state-wide e-health network.
She also has served as a member University of Kentucky Board of Trustees and the Faculty Senate Council, a reviewer for the Veterans Administration and National Institutes of Health, and chaired the Veterans Administration Research Career Scientist Program review group.
A strong proponent for translating basic research findings into clinical care, Pomeroy's own basic research has focused on host responses to infectious diseases and on the medical complications and pathogenesis of eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and obesity. While the cause of these potentially life-threatening disorders remains incompletely defined, her laboratory is studying the role of cytokines such as IL-6 and leptin as potential mediators of the disordered eating characteristic of these and other patients, including HIV-infected patients who develop abnormal body fat distribution after treatment with protease inhibitors.
Pomeroy received her medical degree from the University of Michigan College of Medicine in Ann Arbor. She completed her residency and fellowship training at the University of Minnesota. She has a master's in business administration from the University of Kentucky.
Pomeroy replaces Thomas Anders, who served in the dean's office from 1998 to 2002. A pediatric psychiatrist and expert in pediatric sleep disorders, Anders was a pivotal force behind the development of the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and the integration of key departments and processes at the school and medical center. He created single departments to handle information systems and human resources activities for the health system, implemented People Soft software at the school, and established administrative service units for the basic science departments. He developed a management system for the school's state-funded lines and strengthened the Medical Informatics master's degree program. With Associate Dean Lydia Howell, he developed the Mission Based Reporting system to help faculty and department chairs allocate hours spent on meeting UC Davis' patient care, research, teaching and community service missions. He also established and chaired the School Operations Committee, which coordinates the activities of all of the associate and assistant deans with medical center senior leadership.
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