The College of Medicine is very pleased to announce that Michele Mariscalco, MD, has accepted our offer to assume the leadership of the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Urbana as the Regional Dean on March 31, 2014, pending approval of the University Board of Trustees. Dr. Mariscalco is an accomplished clinician-scientist who brings extensive experience as a leader in a “regional” campus to integrate research and scholarship with quality patient care and education. Her academic career has focused on preparing trainees and faculty for careers in academic medicine with a focus on research development.
Dr. Mariscalco is currently Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. She received her MD at the University of Cincinnati, and completed pediatrics residency and pediatric critical care fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Programs in Houston. Following her training, Dr. Mariscalco rose through the academic rankings from assistant to tenured associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. She was also program Director of Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Training Program, and the Director of Fellowship Research at Baylor College of Medicine. Additionally, she was the Program Director of one of the few NIH-funded T32 Research Training Programs in Pediatric Critical Care in the United States for 10 years.
During her tenure as Associate Dean for Research at the University of Kansas, Dr. Mariscalco developed a comprehensive program that transformed the medical school culture in Wichita to that of translational research. She has developed an infrastructure for grant support and research services to grow clinician-scientists. She has also established the “Mid-Continent Center for Health Research”, an integrated research home for population health outcomes and health services research. Dr. Mariscalco has also successfully secured funding through institutional and extra-institutional mechanisms for research and scholarship for faculty development, a one-time award of $6.1 million, and approximately $0.5 million yearly.
Dr. Mariscalco’s research focus has been on the developmental biology of inflammation. She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and has served on the editorial board of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine since 2005, with an appointment as Senior Editor in 2013. Dr. Mariscalso is a member of the National Advisory Committee Pediatric Critical Care Scientist Development Program and a member of the External Advisory Committee of the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network.
In 2011, Dr. Mariscalco received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the National Alumni Association, University of Dayton in Ohio. In 2010, she received the Barry A. Shapiro Memorial Award for Excellence in Critical Care Management from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. In 2009, she received the Award of Excellence in Teaching in Research from the Baylor Department of Pediatrics.
My thanks go to Dr. Uretz Oliphant for his leadership as interim regional dean. Dr. Oliphant has successfully recruited new faculty and conducted strategic planning retreats to help guide the future of the COM-UC. He also oversaw the implementation of curricular innovations and strengthening of the instruction of medical students by wise investment of resources.
We also would like to thank members of the search committee, headed by Dr. John Solaro, for their dedication and outstanding work during the selection process. The committee members worked tirelessly to conduct this national search to ensure the successful recruitment of this important hire.
