More than 65 professors, doctors and researchers were promoted or hired at the Boston University School of Medicine after three recent board meetings, an occurrence Medical School Dean and Provost Dr. Karen Antman said is routine.
Antman said “a fair number of promotions tend to happen around this time” because of the Sept. 1 board meeting.
She said the number of BUMC promotions are about the same as those which occur at the Charles River Campus.
“The Academic Affairs Committee has two books [of promotions] and our book is the same size as the Charles River Campus’ book,” she said.
Antman said with a staff as large as the MED’s, mass promotions do occur.
“There is a faculty of 1,200 people at the Med School,” she said. “In any given year, a large number of people are appointed or promoted.”
Despite the number hired, the process of promoting a faculty member is time-consuming. Antman said the approval system starts at the departmental level and goes all the way through the Board of Trustees.
She said new faculty must be brought in every year to keep up with the enrollment and general growth of the school.
“People retire or are recruited to other institutions,” Antman said. “Departments expand so there are a number of reasons.”
“We certainly are bigger now than we were 10 years ago,” she continued.
Dr. Caroline Apovian now has the title of Associate Professor of Pediatrics.
The hierarchy of titles goes from Instructor to Assistant Professor and from Associate Professor to full Professor, she said.
Apovian’s research is geared toward ending the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents.
“I’m a clinician, an MD, and I teach, but I’m a specialist in nutrition,” she said. “We are trying to develop new programs and treatments for obesity.
“It is an honor because I was [researching in this subject] before, and now it’s being acknowledged,” Apovian continued. “It’s a reflection of what I have been doing.”
These promotions will have a definite impact on MED, according to Antman.
“As you bring in new teachers, you bring in new skills,” she said. “So I think there will be improvement.”