Dunn fills the post left by Larry Cook, who announced his resignation last year. Cook returns Department of Pediatrics faculty July 1 after serving since 2003 as EVPHA.
“Dr. Dunn brings to UofL a skill set that will help move us to the next level as a premiere academic medical center in very short order. He has experienced and resolved many of the issues associated with a rapidly growing research enterprise, and he has harnessed that energy so that it becomes very constructive and enables further expansion in the future,” said UofL President James Ramsey. “We sought a national leader for this position and we have found one.”
Paying tribute to Cook and his 40 years at UofL, Ramsey noted, “As one of the nation’s fathers of neonatology, he helped to put UofL on the map. He has helped us grow from a small private medical school producing new clinicians to a major academic medical center. His vision for what we are capable of doing is the driving force behind the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center.”
Dunn became vice president for health sciences at SUNY Buffalo in 2005 and was responsible for leading the strategic integration of teaching, research, service and clinical activities of UB’s five health sciences schools and their departments, programs, centers and hospital and clinical affiliates.
Prior to joining SUNY Buffalo, Dunn was the Jay Phillips professor and chairman of surgery at the University of Minnesota. He also was the division chief of general surgery, head of surgical infectious diseases, director of graduate studies and residency program director of the Department of Surgery. He was a full member of the faculty of the graduate programs in surgery and the biomedical sciences.
During his tenure in this post, clinical revenue and extramural grant support dramatically increased and a number of new clinical and research programs emerged, including the Lillihei Heart Institute, the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation (newly renamed as the Schulze Diabetes Institute) and the Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery.
Dunn has published more than 400 articles and book chapters in the areas of surgical infectious diseases and transplantation. He is considered to be a world authority in the areas of endotoxin antagonist development and testing; immunomodulation during sepsis; intra-abdominal sepsis and host defenses of the peritoneal cavity; cytomegalovirus disease after solid organ transplantation; and pancreas transplantation.
“I am very impressed with the breadth and scope of the programs at the University of Louisville and the desire everyone has to enhance its national and international stature,” Dunn said. “It clearly is an exciting time on campus and I welcome the opportunity to be a part of continuing the growth.”
UofL’s EVPHA provides leadership for the university’s Health Sciences Center. The schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and Information Sciences, as well as 14 centers and institutes, fall under EVPHA oversight. The post also is a key part of Ramsey’s leadership team. The EVPHA also has principal responsibility for external affairs including hospital relations and other affiliated entities.