Family physician named new dean of FSU College of Medicine

Florida State University Provost and Executive Vice President Lawrence G. Abele has announced the appointment of Dr. John P. Fogarty as the next dean of the College of Medicine, effective Aug. 8.

Senior associate dean for operations and associate dean for primary care at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Fogarty will succeed Dr. J. Ocie Harris, who is retiring after more than five years as dean. Harris joined the FSU College of Medicine in 2000 as an associate dean and was one of the primary architects of the school's innovative and nationally acclaimed community-based medical education program.

"We could not have had a better, more experienced leader to guide us through our early development," Abele said. "Dean Harris was a rock of stability during the college's early years, and his guidance and maturity were just essential. I hope he will consider a continuing role in the college once the joy of retirement wears thin. In the meantime, he will be handing over a highly successful medical education program, and I am extremely confident in Dr. Fogarty's ability to build on that foundation."

A family physician and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Fogarty earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University in Albany, N.Y., and completed his family practice residency at DeWitt Army Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Va. Fogarty spent the first 20 years of his career as an Army physician and academic leader, rising to the rank of colonel and serving the last five years of his military career as chair of family medicine at the Uniformed Services University School of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. In that position he oversaw nine clinical clerkship sites in six states in an educational model similar to FSU's system of regional campuses based in six Florida cities.

Fogarty joined the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1995 as chair and physician leader of family medicine and was appointed associate dean for primary care in 2006. He was then appointed interim dean of the college, and over the next 15 months provided stable leadership during the search for a permanent dean. During his tenure, new chairs in medicine and surgery were recruited as well as the president of the faculty practice; the entering class of medical students grew in numbers as well as quality measures; and the college completed a successful Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) re-accreditation.

In 2007, Fogarty was honored by the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians as Vermont Family Physician of the Year and also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Vermont Medical Society, the highest honor the society bestows, for meritorious service in the science and art of medicine, as well as for outstanding contributions to the medical profession, its organizations and the welfare of the public.

"Dr. Fogarty's experience supervising a distributed model of medical education and serving as a department chair and interim dean, along with his background as a family physician, make him a great fit for the mission and needs of the FSU College of Medicine," Abele said.

Fogarty, who takes the helm as the college enters its eighth academic year, said he was drawn to FSU because its medical school has achieved remarkable success in a short time.

"It is patient-focused, with a commitment to Florida and its citizens to provide medical care and workforce solutions for them," he said. "The campus has superb educational facilities and tools for education, and FSU has developed great hospital and physician partners for its clinical educational programs at its regional campuses. I look forward to working together with the students, staff and faculty at FSU to continue this progress."

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