Lloyd B. Minor named dean of the Stanford School of Medicine

Lloyd B. Minor will assume his position as dean of the School of Medicine on Dec. 1. (Photo: Courtesy of The Johns Hopkins University)

Dr. Lloyd B. Minor, provost of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has been named dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine, Provost John Etchemendy announced today.

"Lloyd Minor is an exceptional researcher, clinician and academic administrator.  Stanford is extremely fortunate to have been able to recruit someone with his outstanding talents and experience to lead our School of Medicine," Etchemendy said. "In partnership with our hospital leadership, he will take Stanford medicine to new levels of clinical and research excellence."

Minor will transition to Stanford this fall and assume his position as dean on Dec. 1. He will succeed Dr. Philip Pizzo, who has led the School of Medicine as dean since April 2001.

"I am extremely pleased to extend my personal welcome to Provost Minor to succeed me as dean," said Dr. Pizzo. "Dr. Minor's commitment to excellence is evident from his many past accomplishments and important leadership positions, and I am sure that he will work in a thoughtful and insightful manner with faculty, students, staff and the leaders across the Medical Center and University to guide the future of Stanford Medicine to even greater heights and accomplishments. I join our community in congratulating Dr. Minor and in personally doing all that I can to make his transition as smooth and successful as possible. Despite the many challenges facing academic medical centers, the future for Stanford Medicine is exceptionally bright and made even more so by the appointment of Dr. Minor as the next dean."

Dr. Sam Gambhir, co-chair of the search committee and chair of the Department of Radiology, said, "We are very fortunate to have recruited Provost Minor as the new dean of the Stanford School of Medicine. Lloyd is an exceptional physician-leader with a strong and broad vision to propel forward the clinical, research, administrative and educational enterprise in exciting new ways. His ability to build consensus and bridge strengths across the entire Medical School, Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto VA and the University will be key for the future excellence of our Medical School."

Minor will lead more than 1,500 faculty and 1,000 students at the Stanford School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in the West, which consistently ranks among the top U.S. medical schools with faculty members who secure the highest amount of research funding per investigator in the country. The school is research-intensive, and improves health through leadership, collaborative discoveries and innovation in patient care, education and research.

"It is a wonderful honor to be asked to lead the Stanford School of Medicine – one of the truly preeminent medical schools in the world – and I am tremendously excited by this unique opportunity to advance state-of-the-art medical research that crosses and combines traditional medical disciplines and academic boundaries in unprecedented new ways," Minor said. "Under Dean Pizzo's leadership, the School of Medicine has achieved remarkable successes in so many areas. I look forward to working closely with the outstanding department chairs, faculty, students and staff to further advance the School's excellence in teaching, research and patient care, and to working together with the hospital leaders to achieve the goals set forth in Stanford's new campaign to support all of Stanford medicine."

Minor said he looks forward particularly to Stanford's interdisciplinary research emphasis. "As a provost, I know and have extensive experience with the value of these cross-cutting interactions. The fact that I am the third provost hired to lead a Stanford school speaks to Provost Etchemendy's and President Hennessy's belief in the transformative effects a broad vision can have on the great challenges facing not only medical research and practice, but all of education today."

As Johns Hopkins provost, Minor is the chief academic officer and second-ranking member of the senior administration, responsible for promoting and coordinating the university's teaching and research mission. He leads the university's budgeting process and oversees the university's nine schools as well as its many interdisciplinary programs and academic centers.

During his time as provost, Minor has launched many university-wide initiatives such as the Gateway Sciences Initiative to support pedagogical innovation and the Doctor of Philosophy Board to promote excellence in doctoral education. He has worked with others around the university and health system to coordinate the Individualized Health Initiative, which aims to use genetic information to transform health care.

Prior to his appointment as Johns Hopkins provost, Minor served as Andelot Professor and director (chair) of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and otolaryngologist-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. During his six-year tenure, he expanded annual research funding by more than half and increased clinical activity by more than 30 percent, while strengthening teaching efforts and student training.

With more than 140 published articles and chapters, Minor is an expert in balance and inner-ear disorders. Through neurophysiological investigations of eye movements and neuronal pathways, his work has identified adaptive mechanisms responsible for compensation to vestibular injury in a model system for studies of motor learning (the vestibulo-ocular reflex). The synergies between this basic research and clinical studies have led to improved methods for the diagnosis and treatment of balance disorders. In recognition of his work in refining a treatment for Ménière's disease, Minor received the Prosper Ménière Society's gold medal in 2010.

In the medical community, Minor is perhaps best known for his discovery of superior canal dehiscence syndrome, a debilitating disorder characterized by sound- or pressure-induced dizziness. In 1998 Minor and colleagues published a description of the clinical manifestations of the syndrome and related its cause to an opening (dehiscence) in the bone covering the superior canal. He subsequently developed a surgical procedure that corrects the problem and alleviates symptoms.

Minor received his bachelor's and medical degrees from Brown University, where he is a member of the Brown Medical School Committee. He trained at Duke University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center and completed a research fellowship at the University of Chicago and a clinical fellowship at The Otology Group and The EAR Foundation in Nashville, Tenn.

Editor Note:

A high-resolution photo of Lloyd B. Minor is available upon request.

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