Dr. Augustine M. K. Choi has been appointed interim dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and University provost for medical affairs, according to a University statement Monday from Acting President and Provost Michael Kotlikoff. He will begin his term on June 1.
Choi will replace Dr. Laurie Glimcher, who will leave the position after serving for four years, according to the Weill Cornell website.
The Board of Trustees and Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Overseers approved Choi’s appointment a month into the search for a dean and provost, and he will serve until a new dean is selected, the statement said.
Choi is currently the chairman of the Weill Department of Medicine, where his research and teaching focuses on lung disease, according to a Weill Cornell press release.
In a statement, Kotlikoff expressed his confidence in Choi’s leadership, specifically commending his management skills.
“A physician-scientist who heads the largest academic department at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Choi is ideally positioned to understand the needs of the institution at this time,” Kotlikoff said.
The acting president added that Glimcher’s contributions to Weill Cornell have been “enormous,” citing the medical college’s expanded services in New York City and ties to New York-Presbyterian as well as Cornell’s Doha and Ithaca campuses.
Glimcher will remain an advisor at Weill Cornell until August 31, the statement said. Afterwards, she will assume the position of CEO at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital — according to the institute’s website.
The Board of Trustees has also approved the formation of a committee to search for a candidate for the open dean position, according to the statement. The committee is co-chaired by President Emeritus Hunter Rawlings III — who will begin his term as Cornell’s interim president on April 25 — and Jessica Bibliowicz, chairman of the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers.