Geisel School of Medicine Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, Greg Ogrinc, MD, MS, announces the appointment of two new associate deans.
Virginia T. Lyons, PhD, as associate dean for preclinical education and David W. Mullins, PhD, as associate dean for basic science integration. Both bring extensive experience in pedagogical innovation to their new role.
Effective immediately, Lyons succeeds David Nierenberg, MD, who will continue his role as associate dean of Year 2 through the remainder of the 2019 academic year.
Building on her leadership positions in the medical school’s preclinical curriculum and administration, Lyons will lead the implementation of the preclinical phase of the medical education program and ensure its quality standards.
Lyons, an associate professor of medical education, has directed Geisel’s anatomy and embryology courses since 2006, has been associate dean of the medical school’s Year 1 curriculum since 2010, and is a member of the Medical Education Committee.
Consistently recognized for her creative and progressive teaching, in 2016 she received the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award, given to those who exemplify the qualities of a caring and compassionate mentor in the teaching and advising of medical students.
An inaugural member of the Geisel Academy of Master Educators, Lyons has also received the medical school’s Basic Science Class Day Teaching Award numerous times. Nominated by Geisel students for membership, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society—a lifelong honor that recognizes a dedication to the profession and art of healing.
In his new role, beginning February 1, Mullins will work collaboratively with Geisel faculty to integrate basic biomedical sciences across all four years of the undergraduate medical education curriculum.
An associate professor in medical education and of microbiology and immunology since 2011, Mullins directs Geisel’s immunology and virology, and basic science of microbial disease courses and is leading course development for an infection and immunity course in the new curriculum. He will continue as a course leader.
Mullins sits on several committees, including Faculty Council, the Medical Education Committee and serves as chair of the Geisel Academy of Master Educators, following his induction in 2016. He has also been recognized for his teaching, including a Distinguished Lecturer Award at Geisel (Class of 2016), and the “Science Idol” award presented at the 5th Annual National IDeA Symposium for Biomedical Research Excellence. Mullins is also an associate editor for the journal International Immunopharmacology.
Mullins has completed course work in the Harvard Macy Institute, the AAMC’s Medical Education Certificate Program, International Association of Medical Science Educators Certificate Program, and the Alan Alda Center for Science Communication.
