The Yale Medicine Board has elected Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA, chair and William H. Carmalt Professor of Surgery, as the new Board Chair. She succeeds Gary V. Desir, MD, Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine and chair of medicine, and vice provost for faculty development and diversity. In announcing Ahuja’s election, Paul Taheri, MD, MBA, deputy dean and CEO of Yale Medicine, said, “I am looking forward to working closely with Nita in her new role and am confident that her leadership will greatly enrich the practice.” Of Desir, Taheri added, “Focused on what will make the entire practice successful and not just on what benefits any one department, Gary has been helpful, thoughtful, and always articulate. His steadfast leadership during our first wave of COVID revealed his true mettle. He led with compassion, knowledge, and vision.”
In addition to the new Yale Medicine Board chair, the Nominating and Governance Committee has also identified, and the board has ratified, four new at-large faculty members. They are Michele Johnson, MD, professor of radiology and biomedical imaging, and of neurosurgery; Marie Robert, MD, professor of pathology and of medicine (digestive diseases); Marietta Vázquez, MD, professor of pediatrics (general pediatrics); and Merceditas Villanueva, MD, associate professor of medicine (AIDS). Yale Medicine’s leadership cast a wide net in this election, reaching out not only to all the clinical departments, but also to the Committee on the Status of Women in Medicine (SWIM) and the Minority Organization for Retention and Expansion (MORE) to ensure that the Board truly represents the interests of all individuals who are members of its practice.
Yale Medicine is the clinical practice of the Yale School of Medicine. It is the largest academic multispecialty practice in New England. Yale Medicine’s patients receive care from some of the world’s most renowned doctors.