Kevin Gardner, MD, PhD, Appointed Chair of the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology

Dear Colleagues:

We are pleased to announce that following a highly successful term as interim chair of the department, Kevin Gardner, MD, PhD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Pathologist-in-Chief of NewYork-Presbyterian. His appointments are effective immediately. Dr. Gardner’s service to Columbia and NYP has been nothing short of exemplary and we are thrilled to have him take on these important leadership roles on a permanent basis.

Dr. Gardner joined the VP&S community in 2017 as senior vice chair of the department, where he also served as director of the Digital and Computational Pathology Laboratory and the Physician-Scientist Research Pathway in Pathology. In these capacities, he oversaw basic, translational, and clinical research within the department and led career development and mentoring for aspiring physician-scientists. Before joining Columbia, Dr. Gardner served as a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute and scientific director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, where he led health disparities research conducted by tenure-track investigators, staff scientists, and staff physicians. While at the National Cancer Institute, he received two NIH Director’s Awards for his work defining the mechanisms of gene regulation and their role in the evolution of cancer and for conducting the first research to define a molecular mechanism linking metabolic imbalance with increased risk of breast cancer. Dr. Gardner is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

The Department of Pathology and Cell Biology has a storied history. The department dates back to 1767, with faculty appointments in the departments of anatomy and physiology & pathology at what was then King’s College. Today, the department ranks first nationally in the discipline of pathology for the number of NIH grants and consistently in the top programs for total NIH funding. Its faculty have led the way nationally in advancing cancer-related and constitutional genetic and genomic clinical testing, and its precision medicine initiative has now expanded to include novel test development, genetic counseling, and other cutting-edge research and educational programs. As we welcome Dr. Gardner into his new roles, we are excited for the department’s bright future and its ongoing contributions to pathology and cell biology.

Of course, we owe much of the department’s strong foundation to Dr. Gardner’s predecessors, Kevin Roth, MD, PhD, who served as chair and pathologist-in-chief for eight years before officially stepping down in August, and Michael Shelanski, MD, PhD, who ably led the department for nearly three decades before that. We take this opportunity to thank Drs. Roth and Shelanski for their contributions to pathology and cell biology at Columbia and NYP, and express our excitement in welcoming a highly talented and capable successor in Dr. Gardner. We also extend our thanks to the search committee and Jordan Orange, MD, PhD, for chairing the search.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Gardner and wishing him continued success in his new roles.

Sincerely,

Katrina Armstrong, MD
Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Columbia University

Steven J. Corwin, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian