Jason Wertheim named to national dean fellowship program

Jason Wertheim, MD, PhD, has been accepted into the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Deans Fellowship Program for 2025-2026.

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Wertheim, vice dean for research and graduate studies, a professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and a member of the BIO5 Institute, is the first fellow from Arizona. The program, which began in 2001, was created to enhance the development of future leaders in academic medicine. 

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” said Wertheim, who joined the U of A in 2020.

In the program, fellows are mentored by deans at other schools, participate in council meetings, attend a seminar and complete a leadership program.

“It will augment a lot of the work that I do across the tripartite mission and particularly in the research leadership domain,” said Wertheim, who added that he’s looking forward to meeting new colleagues and learning how academic medicine is approached from different perspectives across the country.

In his nomination letter, Michael M.I. Abecassis, M.D., MBA, the Inaugural Humberto and Czarina Lopez Endowed Dean of the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, said he worked with Wertheim first at Northwestern University and now at the U of A. When Wertheim came on board, there was no central infrastructure for research or graduate student administration in the college, which he has now put in place. At the university level, Wertheim collaboratively led the effort to implement guidelines for clinical research during the pandemic and the eventual return to in-person work, Abecassis said. 

“He is a kind, hard-working, principled and empathetic leader in academic medicine who has the ability to make significant contributions to medical education and scientific innovation as a future leader of a medical school,” Abecassis wrote.

Wertheim is also a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering as well as the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. He is one of six people nationwide chosen to participate in this year’s fellowship class. The program will start in the fall.