Dean, College of Medicine

Douglas J. Barrett, M.D.,, Sr. Vice President, Health Affairs

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Bruce C. Kone, M.D., as the next dean of the College of Medicine. His first day in the position will be May 15th.

Dr. Kone is presently chair of internal medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He has a stellar national reputation as a scientist and clinician and has also been a champion of medical education at his institution. Indeed, I believe he is the best choice to sustain the college’s national prominence in medical education while building on Dean Craig Tisher’s work to lead us to elite status in our research and clinical activities. I’ve also been impressed with Dr. Kone’s success in enhancing the diversity of his faculty through the recruitment of racial and ethnic minorities and women.

This was a very difficult choice to make from an exceptionally large field of talented applicants, including those from our own institution. I think that response is testament to the hard work of the search committee, led by College of Nursing Dean Kathleen Long, and also to the sense of excitement applicants expressed that the College of Medicine’s star is rising.

We can take pride that Dr. Kone is one of our own, since he is a member of the UF College of Medicine Class of 1983. A graduate of Princeton University, he completed a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins and a fellowship in nephrology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He joined our faculty for four years in the early 1990s before leaving for UT-Houston, where he assumed his current department chair position in 2004. He is also chief of the internal medicine service and director of patient care management at Memorial Hermann Hospital, and serves as chief of the nephrology section at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Kone’s research, funded continuously by NIH for two decades, focuses on the molecular mechanisms of inflammation, injury and repair to the kidney, blood vessels and intestine, and he has authored more than 80 scientific articles. He is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Physicians.

He is a member of AOA, the honor medical society, and has been active in the leadership of the American Heart Association’s programs dealing with the kidney in cardiovascular disease. Committed to medical education at all levels, he is a four- time winner of his school’s award for teaching.

I’m delighted that Bruce, his wife Daisy, and their three daughters will be joining us. I know that each of you will enjoy working with him as he leads our College of Medicine to new heights.