Jay Vyas, MD, PhD, Appointed as Associate Dean for Academic Innovation

Dear VP&S community,

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Jay Vyas, MD, PhD, a renowned medical educator and physician-scientist, to serve as associate dean for academic innovation and director of physician-scientist programs at the Roy and Diana Vagelos Institute for Basic Biomedical Science. Dr. Vyas will hold a faculty appointment in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine.

Dr. Vyas will work alongside VP&S leadership in his associate dean role to advance innovative academic programs and transdisciplinary educational and research initiatives. He will also support new models of integrating discovery science and clinical care, including the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Precision Psychiatry & Mental Health and other modes of patient-based inquiry.

Leveraging a new dynamic organizational model, the Vagelos Institute will provide the infrastructure to unite cutting-edge research taking place in Columbia’s basic science departments with leading medical and graduate education programs, and exemplary research initiatives in clinical departments. As the inaugural director of physician-scientist programs within the Vagelos Institute, Dr. Vyas will oversee the current physician-scientist portfolio, including the MD-PhD program, formal research activities in the MD curriculum, and other physician-scientist awards and programs administered by the Dean’s office.

Dr. Vyas has deep expertise in developing and advancing innovative training models in physician-scientist education. He joins Columbia from Harvard Medical School, where he served as a professor of medicine and the residency program director for the largest graduate medical education program in Massachusetts. His accomplishments in this role were recognized by the Association for Program Directors in Internal Medicine with the Distinguished University Medical Educator Award. Dr. Vyas also co-created the Stanbury Physician Scientist Program, a ground-breaking physician-scientific training program for residents, and co-developed the Pathways program to encourage intellectual curiosity during residency. He is the principal investigator of three NIH grants to support research during residency and served as co-chair of the Harvard Medical School Diversity Council for three years between 2021 and 2024.

Dr. Vyas is an internationally recognized expert in immunology and host-pathogen interactions with an active NIH-funded laboratory. His research focuses on the innate immune responses to clinically relevant fungal pathogens. He serves as chair of the research committee for the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation Physician-Scientist Development Committee.

Dr. Vyas earned his PhD and MD from the Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his internship and medical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and his fellowship in infectious disease at the joint MGH/BWH program.

There will be opportunities to celebrate Dr. Vyas in the coming months. For now, please join me in warmly welcoming Dr. Vyas to Columbia.

Sincerely,

Katrina Armstrong
Interim President
Columbia University in the City of New York

James McKiernan, MD
Interim Dean, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
CEO, ColumbiaDoctors