The Office of Faculty Affairs is taking a new and innovative approach to diversifying academic medicine and the ranks of future practicing physicians and professionals by expanding its scope to also focus on leadership and professional development within the School of Medicine.
Dr. Kenneth Palmer has been appointed to be the first vice dean for Faculty Affairs, Human Resources and Professional Development effective January 1, 2009. In this expanded role, Dr. Palmer will devote his full-time energies to serving as an advocate for the diverse School of Medicine faculty. He will be responsible for interpretation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of institutional policies and procedures. These procedures include the development and implementation of expanded resources for professional development and human resource administrative support services.
Dr. Palmer has been with the School of Medicine for 28 years. For ten of those years he served as dean for Research and Graduate Programs. He served five years as director of Preclinical Curriculum and has chaired the Committee on Public Health Sciences, which led to the establishment of the new Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and Master of Public Health program. Most recently, Dr. Palmer served as interim chair of Pathology, where he was fully engaged in faculty development and the promotion and tenure processes leading to successful clinical faculty promotions. He successfully recruited nine new clinical faculty members and a new director of Pathology Education while overseeing thriving GME, UME and graduate biomedical education programs.
A National Institutes of Health-supported basic science principal investigator for 12 years, Dr. Palmer has served as program director for the first 18 years of our successful Pathology Graduate Program, and as director for the last 27 years of our highly regarded Year 2 medical Pathophysiology course. He has directed several graduate courses, including leading a systemic pathophysiology course for biomedical students for 14 years.
Dr. Palmer was recruited from Boston University School of Medicine and the Mallory Institute of Pathology. A Massachusetts native, Dr. Palmer received his M.S. in development biology from Villanova University, in Villanova, Pennsylvania, and his PhD in pathology from Boston University.