Scott Strome, MD, FACS, an internationally recognized head and neck surgeon, has been named Robert Kaplan Executive Dean of the College of Medicine and vice chancellor for Health Affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) effective on or before October 1.

Dr. Strome comes to UTHSC from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSM) where he served as professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OTO-HNS) for 13 years. A respected cancer surgeon and investigator, he brings both research and clinical expertise to UTHSC.

"For me, this is a really tremendous opportunity to help shape the research, educational, and clinical missions of the school," Dr. Strome said. "I was looking for a place that already had many strengths, but also had room for someone to build."

At UTHSC, Dr. Strome said he plans to focus on all of the university's missions. In education, he plans to develop new ways to help students learn the vast amount of knowledge they need to obtain during medical school and to teach them in ways that will be useful in their career.

"We have to think about how we really teach our students to be lifelong learners," he said. "And we have to teach them about how to give back to the community."

Dr. Strome said he is passionate about finding ways to reduce the cost of medical education. "I want to make certain that everybody within the state and outside the state as well, if they want to be a doctor and they have the requirements, they have the opportunity," he said. Dr. Strome has been a mentor for students and championed efforts to reduce medical student debt at UMSOM.

As a clinician, Dr. Strome has particular expertise in the treatment of head and neck tumors, thyroid cancer, and diseases of the anterior skull base. He spends one day a week in the clinical setting and one day a week in the surgical setting. His plan is to expand the UTHSC clinical operation, while focusing on quality patient outcomes and cutting-edge advancements and technologies

As a researcher, he is the founder and former co-leader of the program in tumor immunology and immunotherapy in the University of Maryland's comprehensive cancer center. He has been a National Institutes of Health-funded researcher and is the co-founder of Gliknik Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics to treat cancer and autoimmunity. Highlights of Dr. Strome's research career include his roles in helping to define the translational potential of manipulating PDL-1: PD-1 interactions for the treatment of cancer - discoveries that are being employed for the treatment of patients with malignant disease - as well as the development of a new class of drugs for the treatment of autoimmune/inflammatory diseases.

"I'm really excited to grow the research portfolio of the school, to expand the entrepreneurial opportunities within the school, to refine the educational activities of the students, and to partner with the community to ensure that we are addressing their health care needs," Dr. Strome said.

Dr. Strome received his bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. He completed his internship and residency at University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, and a fellowship in OTO-HNS reconstruction at Alleghany Health Education and Research Foundation in Philadelphia.

He has been an associate consultant of otorhinolaryngology at the Mayo Clinic, and an assistant professor of OTO-HNS and an associate professor of OTO-HNS at Mayo Medical School. Dr. Strome joined University of Maryland Medical School in 2005, and in addition to serving as professor and chair of the Department Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, he has held a secondary appointment as a professor of immunology and microbiology. He was interim chair of both the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and the Department of Dermatology.