The Wayne State University School of Medicine and the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit have appointed Scott A. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., chief of staff for the center and associate dean for Veterans Affairs for the School of Medicine.
"My goal is to provide care of the highest quality and efficiency to the ever-increasing number of veterans entering the system while simultaneously expanding the portfolio of cutting-edge, tertiary-care services being offered at the medical center," said Dr. Gruber, F.A.C.S., F.C.P., F.A.C.H.E.
Dr. Gruber joined the School of Medicine faculty in 2001 as professor of Surgery and chief of the Section of Transplant Surgery. He also served as director of the Organ Transplant Program at Harper University Hospital.
"Dr. Gruber's administrative experience, as well as his devotion to quality patient care, makes him a solid fit to serve as chief of staff for the VA Medical Center," said Valerie M. Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., dean of the School of Medicine, "particularly at a time when our nation's VA hospitals face an influx of veterans seeking medical assistance. Having someone like Scott, who has worked for the School of Medicine for so long, will strengthen our ties with the VA Medical Center, and I'm glad Dr. Reeves is so confident in his ability to lead."
"The Detroit VA health care system is very pleased and proud to have a clinician of Dr. Gruber's stature join our facility," said Pamela J. Reeves, M.D., director of the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center. "We look forward to the cutting edge ideas he will bring to the excellent care we already provide."
Under Dr. Gruber's leadership, the transplant program for the WSU School of Medicine more than doubled the number of kidney transplants and performed the first renal transplants in HIV+ patients in Michigan. The program gained national and international attention for achieving outstanding outcomes in African-American, hepatitis C+ and re-transplant patients with the shortest initial length of stays in the country.
Dr. Gruber graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Downstate Medical School in Brooklyn, where he was president of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his general surgical residency, doctorate in pharmacology and transplant fellowship at the University of Minnesota. He received his master's of business administration degree from Wayne State University in 2007 with induction into Beta Gamma Sigma, the National Business Honor Society, and became one of the only surgeons in the nation to attain Fellow status in the American College of Healthcare Executives in 2008.
Before joining the WSU School of Medicine, Dr. Gruber initiated successful pancreas transplant programs at Albany Medical College and University of Texas at Houston. He was the first surgeon to receive the Tanabe Young Investigator Award from, become board certified by and sit on the Board of Regents of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. He co-directed the translational research effort at the University of Louisville that led to the successful performance of the first hand transplant in the nation and led the Houston team that performed the world's first living-donor adult-to-pediatric nerve transplant from a mother to an 8-month-old infant with obstetric brachial plexus palsy.