SOM Dean Search
The process to select a permanent Dean for the School of Osteopathic Medicine is underway. Key to this process is the search committee. These are individuals charged with recommending to the President a slate of outstanding candidates to serve as the next Dean of the School. The committee, which is chaired by Dr. David Rissmiller, Chair of the SOM Department of Psychiatry, welcomes your comments and suggestions with regard to the search. Comments can be forwarded, in confidence, to somdeansearch@umdnj.edu.
Search Update
May 06, 2008
The four semi-finalists for the position of Dean of SOM have completed meetings with SOM student body, administration, clinical and research faculty and hospital affiliate representatives. The candidates have toured the SOM campus and have visited and participated in meetings with the Deans of Robert Wood Johnson and New Jersey Medical School.
The Search Committee has now completed its review and narrowed its search for a permanent dean of SOM to three finalists. The Search Committee has forwarded these three unranked finalists to President William Owen who will review and consider forwarding one of them to the UMDNJ Board of Trustees as his nominee for Dean of SOM.
With this submission of candidates, the Search Committee has assured that the next Dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine will be a qualified osteopathic physician with extensive leadership experience as well as a national reputation as an educator, physician, researcher and academician.
March 10, 2008
The full search committee had two very exciting days of live interviews with candidates from all over the country who were applying for the position of Dean of SOM. On the basis of these interviews and a careful review of all curricula vitae, the committee has recommended four very accomplished D.O. candidates as semi-finalists. The semi-finalists will, over the next few weeks, each be invited to come to the School of Osteopathic medicine where they will meet with many of the key people at the school. This site visit will allow SOM stakeholders to meet the semi-finalists and learn a more about them. It also gives the semi-finalists a chance to see our medical school in action and view first-hand what makes this school so special. After the tours are completed, the process will then move forward with the choosing of three finalists who will be referred to President Owen and from which he will make a final decision regarding who will be SOM's next permanent Dean.
February 8, 2008
On Friday February 8, 2008, the Search Committee met with Dr. Denise V. Rodgers, Executive Vice President for Academic and Clinical Affairs. Also attending were Ms. Celia Abalos, Esq, Vice President of Academic and Clinical Initiatives, and two Senior Client Partners from the premier Academic Executive Search Firm Korn/Ferry, Mr. Arnie Sherrin and Dr. Glenn Davis. They explained to Committee members that recruitment of candidates was going well and they had already received several curricula vitae from qualified applicants for the position. The committee at its next meeting on February 19th will rank these CVs and select those applicants who will be invited for the live first round interviews to be held in March.
Dr. Rodgers, in giving the Committee its charge noted that there is a unity of purpose that brings this committee together: a commitment to selecting the finest possible candidate for permanent Dean of SOM. She noted that this will be assured by using a careful stepwise approach that ensures candidate confidentiality and transparency of the selection process.
She thanked members for their willingness to be part of this diverse committee that includes a student representative from our Student council, representatives from our major Hospital affiliates, three Deans from School of Health Related Professions, the School of Public Health, and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, a representative from the UMDNJ-SOM Alumni Association Board, the New Jersey Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (NJAOPS), and several esteemed Chairs and faculty members from our school. Dr. Rodgers noted that members are being entrusted individually and collectively to put aside any constituency they represent and any personal feelings they may hold in order to focus on the best interests of the School as a whole in fulfilling their charge. The Search Committee accepted this charge and is excited to begin the rewarding process of selecting the permanent Dean.
January 29, 2008
The Search Committee for a permanent Dean at the School of Osteopathic Medicine has been appointed by President Owen and is proceeding on schedule. The advertisements for the position of Dean have been published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (Circulation: 62,556), The DO (Circulation: 63,951) and the DO-ONLINE, Diverse Issues in Higher Education (Circulation: 40,000), Academic Medicine (Circulation: 4,630) and on the listserv for ELAM (Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women) that reaches over 400 female physician leaders.
On February 8, President William F. Owen, Jr., M.D. and Denise V. Rodgers, M.D. Executive V.P. for Academic & Clinical Affairs will visit the SOM campus to officially charge the full Search Committee. The Committee will then review all curricula vitae received by Korn/Ferry, the national executive search firm who is assisting SOM in the process of identifying and recruiting the strongest possible candidates. The top candidates will then be invited to interview with the Search Committee.
After these interviews, later in March, remaining candidates will tour the School of Osteopathic Medicine and meet with key SOM personnel. Subsequently references will be checked and information from the second round interviews assessed.
The Committee is confident that through this extensive screening process, we will find the individual who possesses the appropriate professional and personal skills to work with members of the SOM community and lead the School to ever greater accomplishments. We hope to complete and forward a list of finalists to President Owen no later than May of this year for his final selection of a permanent Dean for SOM.
If you have any comments or thoughts on the search, please forward them to the committee via e-mail to Dr. Rissmiller at rissmidj@umdnj.edu.
November 2007
In accordance with the By-laws of the SOM, Dr. Owen has appointed the following individuals to serve on the SOM Dean Search Committee:
| David J. Rissmiller, DO | Chair of Search Committee; Chair, SOM–Psychiatry |
| Elliot L. Ames, DO | President, NJAOPS |
| Millicent K. Channell DO | Assistant Professor, SOM–Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine |
| Carman A. Ciervo, DO | Associate Professor, SOM–Family Medicine |
| Gwyneth M. Eliasson | SOM Medical Student |
| Martin A. Finkel, DO | Professor, SOM-Cares Institute |
| James C. Giudice, DO | Professor, SOM–Internal Medicine |
| Alexander J. Hatala | President & CEO, Lourdes Health System |
| Carl E. Hock, PhD | Associate Professor, SOM–Cell Biology |
| Jacqueline M. Kaari, DO | Chair, SOM–Pediatrics |
| Kai Mon Lee, PhD | Assistant Professor SOM–Molecular Biology |
| David C. Mason, DO | Acting Chair, SOM–Osteopathic Manipulative, Family Medicine |
| Keith F. O’Malley, MD | Acting Chair, SOM–Surgery |
| Megan Reilly, DO (SOM '97) |
Vice President, UMDNJ-SOM Alumni Association Board |
| Theresa O. Scholl, PhD | Professor, SOM-OB/GYN |
| Ann W. Tucker, EdD | Associate Dean, School of Health Related Professions |
| Bernadette West, PhD, MA | Associate Dean, School of Public Health |
October 2007
A slate of nominees for the Search Committee has been assembled and submitted to Dr. Owen. Under the SOM Bylaws, “The members of the Search Committee shall be appointed by the President; the majority shall be from a list of individuals provided by the Faculty of the SOM.” Dr. Owen will appoint other members to the Committee representing different stakeholder groups who may or may not be members of the SOM faculty.
