University at Buffalo (UB)
New Chair Recruits Bring Coveted Expertise to UB and WNY Patients
Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Published July 12, 2011 This content is archived.
Since being named dean of the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2006, Michael E. Cain, MD, has appointed six new chairs and high-level physician-scientists.
Of the school's 26 academic departments, about a third are either being led by new chairs or are actively engaged in a search for one.
Four additional searches for new chairs are underway in the departments of neurology, gynecology-obstetrics, radiology, and microbiology and immunology.
“Department chairs are the keystone of a school of medicine,” explains Cain, an internationally recognized cardiologist who was recently named to an expanded role as vice president of UB health sciences.
“It is our responsibility to recruit a new breed of visionary department leaders to fulfill our school’s mission.”
Western New York Benefits from World-Class Expertise
New leadership is critical to Cain’s strategic vision for the school and will have a dramatic effect on its trifold mission: to educate tomorrow’s leaders in health care and the biomedical sciences, conduct innovative research and provide outstanding clinical care for Western New York and beyond.
The Western New York community will gain from the new clinical expertise that the chairs and their faculty bring to the community, Cain says.
They will apply this expertise through UBMD—the faculty practice plan—and the affiliated hospitals, where UB faculty and more than 800 medical residents work as attending physicians.
Some of the new recruits are already filling gaps in research and clinical care, he adds.
Chairs Will Help Plan School’s Downtown Move
With the recent passage of the NYSUNY 2020 bill by the state legislature, which approved UB’s proposal to construct a new medical school in downtown Buffalo, the department chairs will take an active role in planning the school’s move into a new state-of-the-art facility.
New Hires Are International Leaders in Their Fields
High-profile appointments at the chair or equivalent level that Cain has made in recent years include the following physician-scientists:
John E. Tomaszewski, MD, Chair of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences
In June, Cain named John E. Tomaszewski to chair the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, effective Oct. 1.
Tomaszewski is professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and interim chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
He conducts research in genitourinary malignancies and immunopathology, especially in renal transplantation and advanced tissue image analysis.
Anne B. Curtis, MD, Chair of Medicine
Anne B. Curtis, MD, was recruited last summer to chair the Department of Medicine and serve as the department’s inaugural Mary and Charles Bauer Professor.
Curtis was formerly professor of medicine at University of South Florida (USF), chief of the USF’s Division of Cardiology and director of Cardiovascular Services.
She is one of the world’s leading clinical cardiac electrophysiologists and an expert in cardiac arrhythmias.
Recently, she played a key role in developing national guidelines for treating atrial fibrillation.
Animesh Amart Sinha, MD, PhD, Chair of Dermatology
Animesh Amart Sinha, MD, PhD, was recruited in April to chair the Department of Dermatology at UB and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and to become UB’s inaugural Rita M. and Ralph T. Behling, MD, Professor of Dermatology.
Sinha was formerly chief of the N.V. Perricone Division of Dermatology and Cutaneous Sciences at Michigan State University and director of its Center for Investigative Dermatology. He is an expert in the fields of immunological tolerance and autoimmunity in skin diseases such as alopecia, lupus and psoriasis.
Lawrence Wrabetz, MD, Director of Hunter James Kelly Research Institute
Lawrence Wrabetz, MD, was appointed last fall as director of the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute (HJKRI), which was established in 2004 by UB and the Hunter’s Hope Foundation.
He was formerly head of the myelin biology unit at San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy.
HJKRI conducts research on remyelination techniques and the biology and pathophysiology of Krabbe Disease. The institute's researchers strive to discover ways to correct the genetic defect responsible for the disease and other leukodystrophies and to develop effective treatments.
Wrabetz holds a primary appointment in the Department of Neurology, and a secondary appointment in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD, Chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD, was recruited in fall 2008 to chair the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Dubocovich was formerly professor of molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry and psychiatry at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
She is an internationally recognized expert in molecular pharmacology and drug discovery who specializes in the neuropharmacology of melatonin and its receptors.
Teresa Quattrin, MD, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics
Teresa Quattrin, MD, UB professor of pediatrics, was named chair of the Department of Pediatrics in February 2010.
Quattrin is an internationally known physician-scientist and an expert in childhood diabetes and obesity.The UB Department of Pediatrics is located in Kaleida Health’s Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, where Quattrin also serves as pediatrician-in-chief, chief of the department’s Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and director of the hospital’s Diabetes Center.