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Arnold W. Strauss, MD, Named Chairman of Pediatrics at UC And Director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation

Distinguished Pediatric Leader to Start by July

Monday, March 05, 2007

Arnold W. Strauss, MD, has been named chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, chief medical officer of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. He will be the seventh B.K. Rachford Memorial Chair in Pediatrics. Dr. Strauss' appointment as chair is pending approval by the UC Board of Trustees.

Dr. Strauss will join the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's by July. His appointment concludes a yearlong national and international search.

"Cincinnati Children's is one of the leading children's hospitals and pediatric research institutions in the nation," says Dr. Strauss, who is a distinguished pediatric cardiologist, scientist, educator and leader. "I am particularly impressed by the extraordinary quality of research. Everyone I've met is friendly, interactive and collegial. My wife, Patricia, and I are looking forward to coming."

Dr. Strauss has been chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and medical director of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt since 2000. Under his leadership, the university built and opened a new hospital for children, expanded its pediatric faculty and increased grant funding for pediatric research. From 1981 to 2000, Dr. Strauss was director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Washington University / St. Louis Children's Hospital.

A respected scientist, Dr. Strauss' research focuses on understanding the molecular basis of disorders of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and the genetic causes of congenital heart disease and cardiomyopathies. He is the recipient of two of the most prestigious awards in research. In November 2006 he was awarded the American Heart Association's Basic Science Research Award for groundbreaking work that led to finding genetic defects that can cause heart failure and sudden death in infants and children. In 1991 he received the E. Mead Johnson Award for Excellence in Pediatric Research.

"Dr. Strauss shares our commitment to transformational quality improvement and to translational research that moves new knowledge from the laboratory to the bedside to change the outcome for children," says Jim Anderson, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children's. "He is joining us at a time of great opportunity. I am confident that he possesses the leadership qualities and interpersonal skills to take us to even greater heights and help us realize our vision of being the leader in improving child health."

"Dr. Strauss embodies the teaching, research and clinical care missions of an academic medical center," added David Stern, MD, Dean of the UC College of Medicine. "In addition, he embraces the collaborative relationship of UC and Cincinnati Children's, and his acumen for research will be a strong factor in enhancing basic, translational and clinical research at both institutions."

The search was a collaboration of Cincinnati Children's and the UC College of Medicine, led by committee co-chairs Jeffrey Whitsett, MD, chief of the Section of Neonatology, Perinatal and Pulmonary Biology, and Joseph Broderick, MD, chair of the UC Department of Neurology.

Dr. Strauss will replace Tom Boat, MD, who has led the Department of Pediatrics and the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation since 1993. Although he is stepping down as chairman, Dr. Boat has chosen to remain on the Cincinnati Children's and College of Medicine faculty as a professor of pediatrics.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, one of the leading pediatric research institutions in the nation, is dedicated to changing the outcome for children throughout the world. Cincinnati Children's ranks second among all pediatric institutions in the United States in grants from the National Institutes of Health. It has an established tradition of research excellence, with discoveries including the Sabin oral polio vaccine, the surfactant preparation that saves the lives of thousands of premature infants each year, and a rotavirus vaccine that saves the lives of hundreds of thousands of infants around the world each year. Current strategic directions include the translation of basic laboratory research into the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of disease, and furthering the development of personalized and predictive medicine.