Newswise — Sherine E. Gabriel, MD, MSc, has been named as the new president of Rush University. Gabriel will begin her position at Rush in February. She currently is the dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and former dean of Mayo Medical School.  Her selection was made by the Rush University Board of Governors and announced today by the board’s chair, Carole Browe Segal, and Larry Goodman, MD, CEO of Rush University Medical Center and the Rush System.

Gabriel will succeed Goodman as Rush University’s president, a position he has held, along with his CEO role, since 2002.  Goodman will continue to be CEO of Rush, an academic health system comprising Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush Copley Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital, as well as numerous outpatient care facilities. Rush University, with more than 2,700 students, is a health sciences university that comprises Rush Medical College, the College of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences and the Graduate College.

“Sherine Gabriel is the ideal leader for the future for Rush University,” said Goodman. “She is especially well prepared to serve as the chief academic officer of the Rush system and has had great success working at another fully integrated academic medical center, Mayo Clinic.  Besides her outstanding credentials as an educator, researcher, and clinician, Dr. Gabriel impressed everyone who has met her as someone committed to the highest standards and values in health care.  We are indeed fortunate to have her join us at Rush in this important leadership position."  

“Our search committee reviewed many excellent candidates, and we are confident that Dr. Gabriel has the vision and strategic skills to lead Rush University to further success and growth,” said Segal.

Last year, the Rush Board of Trustees separated the role of University president from the Medical Center CEO into two distinct positions. They made this change in recognition of the complexities and the opportunities associated with operating and managing a new, growing health system and a thriving health sciences university. The change paves the way for the University and the health system to continue their strong growth and to build on their achievements.

New president is NIH-funded researcher and national leader in rheumatology

Gabriel’s research, largely funded by the National Institutes of Health, has resulted in more than 250 original, peer-reviewed publications addressing the costs, causes and outcomes of rheumatic diseases. Her most recent research examined the risks and determinants of heart disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients.

In April 2015, Gabriel was appointed dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she also is a distinguished professor of medicine. Having started her career at Mayo Clinic as a resident physician, Gabriel continued there as a physician, researcher, educator and leader for nearly 30 years, culminating in her promotion to dean of Mayo Medical School in 2012. She was the William J. and Charles H. Mayo Endowed Professor, and a professor of internal medicine and epidemiology. She also served as co-principal investigator and director of education for the Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Scientific Activities in Mayo’s CTSA.

Gabriel did her undergraduate education at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and the College of Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan Medical School before earning her medical degree at the medical school.

She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, which she followed with a fellowship in rheumatology at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine.

Her additional advanced education includes a master’s in clinical epidemiology from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and graduate executive education courses at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

She is a past president of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and has served on many national committees, most significantly as a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at the NIH, as chair of the FDA Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee and as founding chair of the Methodology Committee of the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Dr. Gabriel is the recipient of many honors and awards including: The ACR Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award and the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Educator Award.  She is also an elected member of the Association of American Physicians (the elected society of U.S. leading physician scientists.

Rush University – proud history, thriving present, poised for the future

In the past 10 years, the University’s student enrollment has grown by 80 percent to 2,708 students across it four colleges. In fiscal 2018, Rush achieved its highest level of research funding, $125 million, including $74.7 million in NIH funding, also a record for Rush. 

Rush University opened in 1972, but its tradition of excellence in medicine reaches back to 1843 with the opening of Rush Medical College, Chicago’s first medical school. It is Chicago’s only health sciences university.

Rush University facts at a glance:

  • Based in the Illinois Medical District, near Chicago's Loop
  • Located on the campus of Rush University Medical Center, a nationally ranked academic medical center specializing in leading-edge patient care and research.
  • Offers more than 40 degree and certificate programs across medicine, nursing, allied health and biomedical research
  • Maintains more than 60 postgraduate training programs for medical residents and fellows; additional continuing education options.
  • Four colleges
  • Rush Medical College (founded in 1837; opened 1843)
  • Rush University College of Nursing (founded in 1975; the college originated with Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in 1903)
  • The College of Health Sciences at Rush University (founded in 1975)
  • The Graduate College at Rush University (founded in 1981)