Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine is celebrating a milestone this week as Jennifer Hunt officially begins her tenure as dean.
Hunt, the first woman to lead the school in its 229-year history, began connecting with the Geisel community before her official start date. On July 27, the first day of orientation, she welcomed the incoming Class of 2030 MD students to campus, marking the start of their medical education with words of encouragement as they began their journey at Geisel. On her first official day in the office, August 3, she welcomed the medical school's new Master of Public Health students with the same spirit and noted the importance of entering the health sciences at a crucial time for the nation’s healthcare system. She also welcomed Geisel’s second-year medical students back to campus to begin the homestretch of their pre-clinical training.
"I am honored and excited to begin this new chapter as dean of Geisel,” Hunt said. “Meeting our incoming MD and MPH students during orientation was an ideal way to start. Their energy and enthusiasm reminded me, yet again, what drew me to this role -- and indeed, what makes Geisel…Geisel -- and I can't wait to grow alongside them and the rest of this special community."
Hunt also noted what she sees as the foundation of the medical school community’s strength.
“Geisel is a community built on excellence and collaboration, and I'm excited for the opportunity to contribute to that tradition and build on it together."
Hunt succeeds Steve Leach, the former director of the Dartmouth Cancer Center, who had served as interim dean since September 2025.
“Dean Hunt arrives with curiosity, energy, expertise, experience, and a deep commitment to our mission,” Leach said. “I am proud to pass the baton to such a talented leader, and I know she will guide Geisel to new heights.”
Hunt joins Geisel from the University of Florida College of Medicine, where she served as interim dean and held the Folke H. Peterson Dean's Distinguished Professorship. An internationally recognized pathologist and physician-scientist, she brings decades of experience in academic medicine
She previously held academic and leadership roles at the University of Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Clinic, Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts General Hospital, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. While at the University of Arkansas, she served for nearly a decade as the Aubrey J. Hough Endowed Professor and chair of pathology, and served as the chief of staff, chair of the credentials committee and chair of the professionalism committee.
A head-and-neck and molecular pathologist, Dean Hunt has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed scientific publications in her subspecialty. She has served in elected roles, including on boards of directors and in leadership for various organizations, including the College of American Pathologists, the Association for Molecular Pathologists and the Association for Academic Pathology. In addition to her clinical and research background, Hunt is a certified executive coach through the International Coach Federation, with experience in leadership development in health care settings.
She earned her MD and MEd from the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed a residency in anatomic pathology and a fellowship in molecular genetic pathology. As an undergraduate she studied chemistry and French at Bryn Mawr College.
Hunt said she is looking forward to getting to know everyone in the Geisel community and to building on the school's long history of innovation and excellence. She also cited leadership in rural health research and clinical practice, through its close partnership with Dartmouth Health, through its network of regional hospitals, clinics, and home health services that care for patients across northern New England and surrounding areas.
Meet Geisel's New Dean