Paul Rothman, MD, is winding down a 10-year run (to the day) as the dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Dr. Rothman took on the role July 1, 2012, and will retire July 1, marking a clean decade-long tenure marked by numerous changes and achievements. Theodore DeWeese, MD, vice dean for clinical affairs and president of the Johns Hopkins Clinical Practice Association, will serve as interim dean and CEO.
Dr. Rothman, a rheumatologist, says he wasn't looking for a new job when he was recruited to Johns Hopkins in 2011 from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where he had been dean of the Carver College of Medicine and leader of the university's clinical practice plan for three years. He arrived as the system was adjusting to a growth spurt with the addition of three community hospitals over two years.
Looking back over the last 10 years, Dr. Rothman says he is proudest of the way Johns Hopkins Medicine has pioneered the use of data to advance research, clinical care and education. The system supports dozens of precision medicine centers of excellence that, through vast amounts of data, work to better understand how diseases like Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis and prostate cancer vary by individual and how treatments can be tailored to specific patients. One of the newer centers of excellence is devoted to COVID-19.
There are a number of other changes made and furthered by Dr. Rothman, including the academic health system's first comprehensive five-year strategic plan with input from about 150 stakeholders across the enterprise; creation of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Well-Being; and the 2014 launch of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures to further an entrepreneurial approach to innovation.
"On a personal level, I have always admired Dean Rothman for his kindness and good humor," Redonda Miller, MD, president of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, said. "But professionally, what I will remember most is his ability to cut through all of the noise in a discussion or presentation and hone in on what is important. He is incredibly insightful. He is interested in the substance of what we're doing. That speaks to who he is at his core — a scientist with a love of data and evidence-based discovery."
Read more about Dr. Rothman's tenure with Johns Hopkins Medicine here.