Newswise — Nobel laureate Dr. Alfred Gilman, chairman of pharmacology for 24 years at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been named dean of UT Southwestern Medical School, effective immediately.
As dean, Dr. Gilman will be the chief academic officer of the institution, including overseeing all faculty appointments and the education of more than 800 medical students and 1,200 clinical residents in training.
Dr. Gilman has served as interim dean since May 2004. He succeeds Dr. Robert Alpern, who left the university to become dean and chief executive of the Yale University School of Medicine.
"In addition to his remarkable academic career, Al Gilman's leadership skills, intelligence, and judgment are truly exceptional, as is his devotion to UT Southwestern's faculty, students and staff," said Dr. Kern Wildenthal, UT Southwestern president. "Our institution is fortunate that he is willing to accept this important responsibility and I know everyone will join me in congratulating, thanking and supporting him."
Dr. Gilman's association with UT Southwestern began in 1981, when he joined the faculty as chairman of pharmacology, a post he will relinquish when a search committee identifies a new chair for that department.
"I've had marvelous opportunities at UT Southwestern and the privilege of working with wonderful deans," Dr. Gilman said. "I'm looking forward to continuing their tradition of fairness, accessibility and responsiveness to the faculty. UT Southwestern is a remarkable institution that nurtures its faculty and students and encourages excellence on every level. I'm honored to continue to contribute to that success."
Dr. Gilman was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery of G proteins and the role they play in the complex processes by which cells communicate with each other. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He will continue to lead the Alliance for Cellular Signaling, a multimillion dollar interdisciplinary research effort he established in 2000. The program involves investigators at five academic centers and is aimed at advancing the understanding of cell communication networks. The Alliance has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, five pharmaceutical companies and two foundations.
Dr. Gilman also will continue oversight of the Cecil H. and Ida Green Comprehensive Center for Molecular, Computational and Systems Biology. After receiving his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Yale University, Dr. Gilman earned an M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Case Western Reserve University. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics at the National Institutes of Health. In 1971 Dr. Gilman began a 10-year stint in the pharmacology department at the University of Virginia School of Medicine before joining UT Southwestern.
Dr. Gilman holds the Nadine and Tom Craddick Distinguished Chair in Medical Science, the Raymond Willie and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Molecular Neuropharmacology, in Honor of Harold B. Crasilneck, Ph.D., and the Atticus James Gill, M.D., Chair in Medical Science.
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