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December 5, 2007
Contact: Michael Chapman
(401) 863-2476

Alpert Medical School
Adashi to Step Down as Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences

Eli Y. Adashi, dean of medicine and biological sciences at Brown University, has announced his intention to step down at the end of the current academic year. Following a possible sabbatic leave, Adashi may return to full time teaching and research.


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PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Eli Y. Adashi, M.D., M.S., FACOG, dean of medicine and biological sciences and the Frank L. Day Professor of Biology at Brown University, has announced his intention to step down at the end of the current academic year.

A noted physician and scientist and an internationally renowned reproductive biologist and endocrinologist, Adashi was introduced as Brown’s new dean in December 2004. Next July Adashi will be considering a sabbatic leave and a possible return to full-time teaching and research for the 2009-10 academic year.

“Under Eli Adashi’s leadership, Brown has been able to move forward with extensive plans for investing in the life and health sciences,” said Brown Provost David Kertzer, who announced Adashi’s decision to the campus community. “The Division of Biology and Medicine is now well positioned for continued growth in the Alpert Medical School, the public health program, and the basic biological sciences.”

Highlights of Adashi’s tenure as dean include:

  • a transformational $100-million gift to the medical school from the Warren Alpert Foundation, which will allow Brown to keep medical education accessible to students from diverse backgrounds; to enhance support for faculty and research; and to plan for construction of a new medical school building;
  • a 75-percent increase in life science laboratory space, including dedication of the new Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences and the complete renovation of research space within the Biomedical Center;
  • purchase of an 11-story office building at 121 South Main as a new home for the Program in Public Health;
  • a larger faculty in biology and public health, including more than 20 new faculty positions as part of the University’s Plan for Academic Enrichment;
  • a more than 40-percent increase in the size of the entering medical school class and an increase in the University’s undergraduate pre-med matriculants;
  • a new pre-clinical medical curriculum, including a new two year-long course in “doctoring” and new scholarly concentrations that provide opportunities for broader medical education in a variety of fields including global health, women’s reproductive health freedom and rights, and medical ethics;
  • a rise of nine positions in the U.S. News & World Report rankings during the last four years, tying Brown’s Alpert Medical School with its counterparts at New York University, the University of Rochester and Boston University;
  • a more than 40-percent increase in the medical financial aid endowment from 2004 to 2007;
  • a closer, better coordinated working relationship with Brown’s hospital partners, including protocols for cooperative recruitment of clinical department chairs, enhanced communications among the institutions, and the progressive centralization of intellectual property efforts.

“President Simmons and I want to express our gratitude for the energy, vision and commitment that Eli has demonstrated as dean,” Kertzer said in his message to the Brown Community.

“These last few years have witnessed great progress and remarkable achievements for Brown’s programs in the life and health sciences,” Adashi said. “To all of those who have played such an important role in advancing this enterprise of ours, especially the divisional leadership team, I express my deepest gratitude and appreciation. Toni and I are grateful for the opportunity to have made a difference and to have opened our home, arms and hearts to students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, community leaders and academic officers.”

Editors: Brown University has a fiber link television studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews and maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call the Office of Media Relations at (401) 863-2476.

Additional information

04-058Brown Names Eli Y. Adashi Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences (Dec. 1, 2004)
06-030Brown Dedicates Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences (Oct. 6, 2006)

Home page: Division of Biology and Medicne

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