Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine Dean Duane Compton, PhD, announced today that Sonia Nagy Chimienti, MD, has been named the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education (SADME) for the medical school. She begins at Dartmouth on August 16, 2021.
“I am thrilled to be joining the vibrant educational community at Geisel,” says Chimienti. “It is a true privilege to partner with such outstanding and dedicated academic leaders and educators and to support our students as they pursue their dreams of becoming physicians. I am inspired by the spirit of innovation and academic excellence that are central to Geisel’s mission. I look forward to collaborating with colleagues across Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, as we support the career development of diverse leaders in medicine who are committed to excellence in scholarship, biomedical research, compassionate healthcare delivery, and service.”
Chimienti, a specialist in infectious disease who is currently vice provost for Student Life and Enrollment Management and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), brings to Dartmouth a wealth of experience in student affairs, medical education leadership, education policy development and oversight, and interprofessional program development.
In her new role, Chimienti will lead the Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) program at Geisel. In addition to managing the UME Affairs Office, the SADME is also responsible for oversight of other UME offices and programs, including Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Affairs, Student Services, dual degree programs, the anatomical gift program, and biomedical libraries. She will also coordinate activities with other medical education leadership at Geisel and Dartmouth-Hitchcock, as well as lead the school’s efforts to maintain compliance with the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) accreditation standards.
"I am excited for Dr. Chimienti to join Geisel,” says Compton. “She brings a wealth of experience in medical education that will foster the success of our students throughout their entire experience from admissions to graduation."
Chimienti’s extensive educational leadership spans the spectrum of undergraduate and graduate medical education, including directing both preclinical and clinical undergraduate medical education courses, leading curriculum, educational policy development and student affairs, and directing infectious diseases fellowship training programs.
In her former role as associate dean for Student Affairs at UMMS, Chimienti was responsible for guiding students through medical school from matriculation through graduation. Through her collaborative and inclusive leadership approach, she expanded and enhanced the medical school’s advising and career development curricula, and supported the expansion of student services through an increase in class size and the development of a new regional branch campus. As vice provost for Student Life, she brought together diverse student support services under the umbrella of a new Office of Student Life, improving the student experience by facilitating engagement with the Registrar, Office of Financial Aid, and student affairs teams across three graduate schools. Chimienti coordinated student services subject matter reporting for LCME and New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) accreditation efforts at the medical school. LCME is an accrediting body for educational programs at allopathic medical schools in the U.S. and Canada.
During her tenure as chair of the UMMS Educational Policy Committee (EPC) of the medical school, Chimienti collaborated with stakeholders to launch an expansion of the medical school class. Through a collaboration with academic leaders at the Manning School of Business at UMass Lowell, Chimienti led the development of an interprofessional dual degree program for graduate students from medicine, nursing, and biomedical sciences. As a fellowship program director in Infectious Disease at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), she led a successful expansion of the fellowship program, developed a learner-focused transition course to help graduating fellows better understand career options following fellowship training, and coordinated a successful Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) review of the program, resulting in full accreditation. ACGME is the accrediting body for graduate medical training programs for physicians in the U.S.
Chimienti earned bachelor’s degrees in both Biological Sciences and Psychology from Stanford University in 1990. After graduating from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine in 1995, she completed her internal medicine residency at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. While in Boston, she also completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases and HIV/Immunocompromised Hosts at Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Throughout her professional career, Chimienti has maintained her commitment to clinical service, providing care for patients with immune compromise or general infectious diseases. She is a member of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellows Class of 2019.
Founded in 1797, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth strives to improve the lives of the communities it serves through excellence in learning, discovery, and healing. The Geisel School of Medicine is renowned for its leadership in medical education, healthcare policy and delivery science, biomedical research, global health, and in creating innovations that improve lives worldwide. As one of America’s leading medical schools, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine is committed to training new generations of diverse leaders who will help solve our most vexing challenges in healthcare.
