David Meltzer named Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research, Translational

David Meltzer, MD, PhD, has been named Associate Dean for Clinical Science Research, Translational, for the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine.

As an Associate Dean, Dr. Meltzer will be central in shaping the division’s strategic plans, fostering a forward-looking, multidisciplinary, and human-focused research, education, and training effort. His primary focus will be to ensure that the BSD has the appropriate infrastructure and resources to conduct premier translational research that improves the health of our patients and communities.

Dr. Meltzer is the Fanny L. Pritzker Professor and Chief of the Section of Hospital Medicine in the Department of Medicine. He has a PhD in economics and holds secondary appointments in in the Harris School of Public Policy and the Department of Economics. He also directs the Center for Health and the Social Sciences (CHeSS) and the UChicago Urban Health Lab.

Dr. Meltzer’s research explores problems in health economics and public policy with a focus on improving care for socioeconomically diverse patients who are hospitalized and developing learning health system infrastructure and methods to assess and improve the value and outcomes of care. He has led multiple NIH-funded training programs, including the ITM Post-Doctoral TL1 program, which will now be led by Sonia Kupfer, MD.

In his new role, Dr. Meltzer will report to Scott Oakes, MD, Vice Dean for Clinical Science Research, working closely with other academic deans and health system leaders to ensure the division’s unified progress toward increased support for translational research needs. He will also direct the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), serving as the principal liaison between the BSD, the ITM, and its five other member institutions.

Dr. Meltzer succeeds Julian Solway, MD, who will be transitioning to emeritus status this fall after a nearly 40-year career at UChicago. Under Dr. Solway’s leadership, the ITM received more than $100 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program and expanded to six Chicagoland institutions, including RUSH University, Loyola University Chicago, Endeavor Health, Advocate Aurora Health, and the Illinois Institute of Technology along with UChicago. Their most recent renewal earned an almost perfect score, demonstrating ITM’s national reputation for accomplishment and vision.