Michael Rosenblatt steps down as Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine

16 December 2009

Dear Faculty Colleague,

I write to inform you of my decision to step down as Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM). I have accepted the offer of a newly created position at Merck & Co., Inc. as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. The nature of this opportunity and its timing seems right.

The decision to leave Tufts has not been easy for me because of the wonderful students, faculty and staff at TUSM. I have been so proud to be a part of the academic medicine and research community of TUSM and its teaching hospitals.

We have worked hard together these past six years. Much has been accomplished in the face of formidable challenges. We should be especially proud of the development of a strategic plan, "focused excellence", as it serves as a blueprint for the school. We made major strides towards improving our research and educational facilities, including a new campus center and state-of-the-art medical simulation center, and renovation of laboratories and research buildings.

TUSM's partnership with Tufts Medical Center has never been stronger due to the collaboration we've enjoyed with Ellen Zane, the extraordinary leader of Tufts Medical Center. In fact, our long-standing partnerships with all the major Tufts-affiliated hospitals were strengthened by the appointment of academic deans. And we were delighted to welcome our newest partner, Maine Medical Center, into the Tufts family.

We set our sights on the future by recruiting both strong tenure-track and senior faculty members in several departments, and new basic and clinical department chairpersons. We also enhanced our commitment to diversity and multicultural affairs, and made major improvements to our admissions process.

TUSM has been the recipient of many grant awards but one of our proudest moments came when we were selected by the NIH to establish a prestigious Clinical Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). And we recently launched a new curriculum while expanding our global health and active citizenship programs.

Many of these accomplishments would not have been possible without the success of our development team that raised over $100 million in the capital campaign.

I will always be grateful to Larry Bacow, the President of Tufts University, and Jamshed Bharucha, the Provost, and the Tufts Trustees for entrusting me with stewardship of TUSM. The Board of Overseers, composed of wise and dedicated individuals, provided excellent advice and critically important philanthropic support. It will always be one of the great honors and satisfactions of my life to have had the opportunity to lead this remarkable school, one of the "jewels" of American medicine.

Parting with the "Dean's Team"-- simply the best team I've ever worked with -- will be most difficult of all.

I will be leaving TUSM on December 20 but will continue to live in the Boston area and hope to keep my ties with many of you. In a separate communication, the university will announce the appointment of the current vice dean, Dr. Harris Berman, as interim dean.

Change is part of the world of medicine. TUSM is headed in the right direction. I look forward to following closely the students, faculty and staff of TUSM as they pursue a path of excellence and make major contributions to the future of science and medicine.

Warm regards,

Michael Rosenblatt, M.D.
Dean
Professor of Physiology and Medicine