WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Finalists named in LSUHSC-Shreveport chancellor search

Finalists named in LSUHSC-Shreveport chancellor search

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A cancer researcher and four surgery professors are among five finalists to succeed Dr. John C. McDonald as chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport (LSUHSC-S), according to Dr. Fred Cerise, LSU System Vice President of Health Affairs and Medical Education.

           Dr. Cerise said finalists include two internal candidates at LSUHSC-S and three external applicants.  They are:

           Robert Barish, M.D., Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs and Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine.

           Jonathan Glass, M.D., Director, Feist-Weiller Cancer Center and Chief, Hematology/Oncology, LSUHSC-S, and Professor of Medicine, LSUHSC-S.

           Danny O. Jacobs, M.D., Chair of Surgery, and the David C. Sabiston, Jr. Professor of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine.

           Charles Wright Pinson, M.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer; and H. William Scott Professor of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

           Kevin Sittig, M.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor for Clinical Affairs, LSUHSC-S, and Associate Medical Director, LSUHSC Hospital and Professor of Surgery, LSUHSC-S.

           "We are extremely pleased at the interest shown and the quality of applicants we have seen," said Dr. Cerise.  "It's a reflection of the magnificent opportunity to direct and grow a top-flight health sciences center."

           All five met in recent weeks with a sub-committee of the LSUHSC-S Chancellor Search Committee headed by Dr. Anil Nanda, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport.  The candidates also met with representatives of a cross section of stakeholder groups at the health sciences center and from the Shreveport area.

           Among the chancellor candidates, Dr. Barish is an expert in emergency medicine and a former prospective NASA astronaut. A 1979 New York Medical College graduate, Dr. Barish established the emergency medicine program at the University of Maryland Medical School.  The program became one of the largest and most sought-after emergency programs in the country, including an innovative critical care transport service that has become a national model patient care and cost effectiveness.

           Dr. Glass, a hematologist and oncologist, is the founding director of the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center at LSUHSC-S and a 1966 Harvard Medical School graduate.  He is internationally known for his research and expertise in hematologic malignancies, including lymphoma, leukemia, and plasma cell disorders.  Dr. Glass has been Chief of Section for Hematology-Oncology at LSUHSC-S since 1986 and director of the cancer center since its inception in 1993.

           Dr. Jacobs joined the Duke University Medical Center as professor and chair of the Department of Surgery in February 2003. He is a specialist in gastrointestinal surgery.  Dr. Jacobs received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and earned his MD degree from Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine in 1979.  At Duke, his research focused on the effects of critical illness and malnutrition on cellular bioenergetics, organ function and metabolism in treating patients with nutritional or metabolic diseases that are amenable to surgery, including patients with intestinal fistulas and morbid obesity.

           A 1980 Vanderbilt University medical grad, Dr. Pinson's clinical interests include benign and malignant disorders of the liver, bile ducts and pancreas, including primary and metastatic liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and gallbladder cancer. He has extensive experience with liver transplantation.  Last May, Dr. Pinson was named director of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center and chief of staff for the Vanderbilt University Hospital, winning praise from his superiors as a great clinician and administrator, a leader with the "well-honed business sense of a trained MBA."

           Dr. Sittig, a burn specialist, received his medical degree in 1979 from the LSU School of Medicine and completed his residency at the LSU Hospital in Shreveport before serving a fellowship at the LSU Burn Center.  He is currently the director of the burn center, which annually treats more than 200 inpatients and 1,600 outpatients in what he describes as an empathetic atmosphere that holistically treats both the physical and emotional wounds of burn victims.

           Dr. McDonald, a nationally known organ transplant surgeon, announced last year that he planned to retire after serving LSUHSC for 31 years, eight as chancellor.  His successor is expected to assume his duties in early 2009.

           LSUHSC-Shreveport includes three professional schools, a university teaching hospital as well as the E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe and the Huey P. Long Medical Center in Pineville. With more than 5,200 employees, LSUHSC-S is Shreveport's largest employer, annually contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy of Northwest Louisiana.

           The search committee is expected to narrow the list of candidates in January.  In addition to Drs. Nanda and Cerise, search committee members include: Henry Barham, LSUHSC-S Student Government Association President and student member of the LSU Board of Supervisors; Dr. Lee Bairnsfather, LSU System Assistant Vice President of Information Technology; Dr. David Barnard, Medical Director Huey P. Long Medical Center, Pineville, La.; Dr. Joan Blondin, Associate Professor of Medicine; Dr. Joseph Bocchini, Chair of Pediatrics; Dr. Stephen Bonsib, Chair of Pathology; Dr. Sharon Dunn, Head of Physical Therapy, Dr. LaDonna Ford, Medical Director, E. A. Conway Medical Center, Monroe, La.; Cedric Glover, Mayor of Shreveport; Dr. Neal Granger, Boyd Professor and Head of Molecular and Cellular Physiology; Dr. Matthew Grisham, Boyd Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and President of the General Faculty; Scott Kennedy, Admissions Director; Harry McInnis, Chair, LSU Health Sciences Foundation; Joseph Miciotto, Hospital Administrator;  Dr. Cherie-Ann Nathan, Professor of Otolaryngology; Dr. Dennis O'Callaghan, Boyd Professor and Head of Microbiology; George Price, Executive Director of Environmental Services; Aaron Selber, LSU Health Sciences Foundation Board; Dr. Richard Turnage, Professor and Head of Surgery; Lo Walker, Mayor of Bossier City; and Dr. Robert Walter, Assistant Professor of Medicine.