A Texas A&M official and leading international expert on hypertension and cardiovascular disease has been named dean of USC's School of Medicine.

Donald DiPette

DiPette said he was honored to have been selected for the position and was eager to begin working with the leadership at the University, the University's clinical partners, and the medical community.

"It's an honor and a privilege to have been selected for such an important and visible position within the University and the community," DiPette said. "I firmly believe in, and I am committed to, the model of medical education that the University of South Carolina School of Medicine embodies. During my visits to the University and the community, I was deeply impressed by the medical school's and its clinical partners' commitment to education, research and healthcare.

"I look forward to contributing to President Sorensen's vision for the University in general and specifically for medical education and health sciences research and fulfilling the mission of the School of Medicine in delivering excellence in patient care, education, and research. It is the medical school's obligation to educate the next generation of physicians and medical researchers to meet the needs of the citizens of our state and beyond."

Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences, said DiPette's experience and leadership qualities are an ideal fit for the University's medical school and acknowledged the work of Richard Hoppmann, who has been interim dean since June 2006.

"Don DiPette emerged as a consensus candidate after an extensive national search," Pastides said. "He is an experienced educator, a talented researcher, and a respected clinician. This experience matches up nicely with our School of Medicine, which aspires to increase its accomplishments in all three of these sectors. We appreciate the able stewardship of Dick Hoppmann, who will continue to play an important role in our school's future."

Brian Heckert, medical center director of the Dorn VA Medical Center, said the center has had a "long and fruitful relationship" with the University and medical school and the hospital staff "look forward to working with Dr. DiPette."

DiPette, who holds the Dr. A. Ford Wolf and Brooksie Nell Boyd Wolf Centennial Chair of Medicine at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and Scott & White Heath System, earned his bachelor's degree from Seton Hall University and his M.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University.

After completing his training in internal medicine and hypertension at Boston University School of Medicine, he joined the University of Pittsburgh, where he held joint appointments in the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health. He directed the Internal Medicine Residency Program and the Hypertension Research Program at Allegheny General Hospital during his tenure at Pittsburgh.

From 1986 to 1999, DiPette held several leadership positions at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, including director of the Division of General Internal Medicine within the Department of Medicine, director of the department's Hypertension Section, and vice chairman for both educational affairs and inpatient affairs within the Department of Medicine.

In 1999, he was named chair and professor in the Department of Medicine in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University, where he remained until joining Texas A&M in 2002.

DiPette is a member of several professional societies and organizations, including the American Heart Association and the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.

He is board certified in internal medicine and clinical pharmacology and has a specialist certification in hypertension. His major areas of research, which have been funded consistently by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, include the pharmacologic treatment of hypertension and the role of novel neuropeptides in the pathophysiology of hypertension. He has published more than 100 manuscripts in leading peer-reviewed clinical and basic science journals.

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