School of Communication Dean Gregory J. Shepherd is chairing the search committee.

Gregory J. Shepherd, dean of the School of Communication, has been appointed chair of the committee that will conduct the University of Miami’s historic search for a new dean of the Miller School of Medicine. As Shepherd noted in a recent message to the medical school community, “Recruiting a new dean is not just about the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth — it is critically important to the wider University of Miami community and indeed to all of South Florida.”

In his message, Shepherd committed to conducting a fair, open, and appropriately transparent national and international search “to find a deep and diverse pool of candidates.”

President Julio Frenk has charged the search committee with forwarding top candidates to Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., senior vice president for health affairs and CEO of UHealth – the University of Miami Health System, and UM Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc.

The other members of the search committee are:

• Lilian M. Abbo, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine and chief of Jackson Health System Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship
• Eduardo C. Alfonso, M.D., chair, Department of Ophthalmology and director, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute
• Marie-Denise Gervais, M.D., assistant dean for admissions and diversity
• Noor Joudi, Student Government executive president
• Mahendra Kumar, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences
• Karl L. Magleby, Ph.D., chair, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
• JoNell Potter, ARNP, Ph.D., professor and director of research and special projects, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Matthias Salathe, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of Pulmonary Critical Care
• Judith L. Schaechter, M.D., M.B.A., chair, Department of Pediatrics
• Carl Schulman, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., professor of surgery and director of the William Lehman Injury Research Center
• Omaida C. Velazquez, M.D., chair, Department of Surgery
• Stephan Züchner, M.D., Ph.D., chair, Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics

This distinguished group will be working with Phillips DiPisa, an executive search firm serving health care and life sciences organizations.