SUBJECT:  Election of Academy of Clinician Scholars Members

I am pleased to announce the election of the first permanent members of the UCSD Academy of Clinician Scholars (AOCS). Criteria for election include an academic rank of Associate or Full Professor, with clinical care comprising at least 50% of the work effort, at least two years of clinical service at UCSD, and demonstrated commitment to education, academic excellence and clinical skill.

The AOCS is the component of our College of Integrated Life Sciences (COILS) that emphasizes and supports clinical excellence by UCSD faculty. It is the patient care delivery arm of the COILS bench-to-bedside continuum. COILS also includes the Institute for Molecular Medicine and the Clinical Investigation Institute, which together encompass a spectrum of activities ranging from basic discovery to patient-oriented research and translational medicine.

With the accelerated pace of discovery, it is equally important that we have superb clinicians staying abreast of the latest research developments, acquiring the knowledge and skills to practice at the leading edge of medicine, and serving as mentors and teachers for colleagues and trainees. The AOCS plans to develop an endowment to provide funds for career development, to sponsor lectures and seminars of interest to clinicians, to raise awareness of UCSD's clinical excellence, and to reward, recognize and promote community among UCSD's clinically active faculty.

To launch the program, over a year ago I appointed an AOCS steering group of eight individuals, chaired by Dr. Angela Scioscia, Clinical Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Medicine. This group put in enormous effort to define the mission, goals, and organizational structure of AOCS and to create its inaugural bylaws. In addition, I appointed an inaugural (two-year, time-limited) membership of 61 individuals, including all professors in the Clinical X series, clinical department chair representatives, and School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences representatives. These inaugural members elected the first permanent members and are themselves eligible for election if they meet the defined membership criteria. An additional election of permanent members will occur later this year and then once annually, starting with Academic Year 2004-05.

The first elected members are Drs. Cynthia Behling, Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology; Paul Gamble, Clinical Professor of Medicine; David Hoyt, Professor of Surgery; Irving "Jake" Jacoby, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Surgery; Tom Kelly, Associate Clinical Professor of Reproductive Medicine; George Shumaik, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Surgery; and Yvonne Vaucher, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics.

Four emeritus members were also elected: Drs. Kurt Benirschke, Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Reproductive Medicine; George Leopold, Professor Emeritus of Radiology; Helen Ranney, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, and Samuel Rapaport, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Pathology.

With the inaugural and elected membership, the AOCS is composed of many of our most respected clinician scholars, ranging from primary care physicians to specialists who diagnose and treat the most complex cases. These talented faculty utilize the latest drugs, technologies and therapeutic approaches to restore health, and are also committed to disease and injury prevention.

Please join me in congratulating these distinguished individuals as they begin their terms in the AOCS. The elected members will be recognized at a public ceremony later this year.

                                                Edward W. Holmes, M.D.
                                                Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences
                                                Dean, School of Medicine