Farewell to Chi V. Dang, M.D., Ph.D.

Dear Colleagues,

It is with conflicting emotions that I announce that Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, cell biology, oncology and pathology; the Johns Hopkins Family Professor; and vice dean for research for the school of medicine, will be leaving Johns Hopkins in late August to become director of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, effective Sept. 1.

Although this transition represents a wonderful opportunity for Chi, and I wish him the best in his new position, we will feel acutely the loss of his astute and visionary leadership. However, he leaves behind a remarkable record of accomplishments and initiatives that will serve his successor—and Johns Hopkins Medicine—in good stead for years to come.

Chi's roots at Hopkins are deep. A 1982 graduate of the school of medicine, he was an Osler medical resident at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

In 1987, he joined the faculty as an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. For 10 years, he served as director of the Division of Hematology. During five of those years, he also served as deputy director of research for the Department of Medicine. In 2000, Chi became vice dean for research, charged with overseeing research administration, policy coordination and technology transfer. After chairing the Dean's Task Force on Emerging Technologies, he helped to introduce key core technologies, including proteomics, gene expression profiling and informatics, our high-throughput chemical screening facility, small-animal imaging, animal phenotyping and our zebrafish core. He helped plan and nurtured the launching of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, and the Institute for Cell Engineering, where he serves as executive director.

Throughout his time at Hopkins and in his many roles, Chi has consistently distinguished himself as an extraordinary scientist, educator and administrator. During his more than 10 years as vice dean for research, he has been a tireless advocate for our faculty and a guiding force in our development of new conflict-of-interest policies. His assumption of the role of vice dean for research was truly a "baptism by fire," coming at a time when Hopkins was experiencing one of the most traumatic events of its history: the death of Ellen Roche, a 24-year-old volunteer who unexpectedly died as an apparent result of participating in an asthma study here. It was the first death ever of a healthy research volunteer at Johns Hopkins, and the tragic event stunned us to the core. Largely under Chi's leadership, Hopkins embarked on an unprecedented effort to restructure and rebuild our Institutional Review Board (IRB) process. The changes earned the praise of the federal Office of Human Research as well as an external committee that was established to review the IRB process. "The speed and enthusiasm with which Hopkins has embraced our recommendations reflects their commitment to the highest level of protection of human subjects of clinical research," the external committee noted in one of its reports. The restructuring also catalyzed the conversion of administrative workflow to electronic formats accessible to faculty, such as eIRB, eOPC, eTechtransfer and the school of medicine faculty portal.

Another vitally important area where Chi has demonstrated his leadership is our research space needs. With Susanne Boeke, he has begun a dialogue among the department directors about how to best optimize our use of research space. A committee to be led by Brooks Jackson and Argye Hillis and staffed by the next vice dean for research is being established and will develop guidelines on the issue.

During Chi's tenure at Johns Hopkins, I and so many of his colleagues have come to depend on his sound judgment, vision and leadership. His many and lasting contributions leave Hopkins a much stronger and better-positioned organization, and we wish him the very best in his new opportunity.

Sincerely,

Edward D. Miller, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine