The University at Buffalo sought a new leader for its health programs focused on primary care, health equity and collaborative research that will bolster its worldwide reputation.
Administrators said Monday they found one who has played a similar role during the past 27 months at the University of California-Davis.
Dr. Allison Brashear, an international expert in movement disorders who holds an MBA and impressive resume, will become the UB vice president for health sciences and medical school dean in December.Ā
Brashear, who grew up in Indiana, told The Buffalo News she chose the UB job because the school takes a comprehensive approach to health care education, her children and closest research colleagues live on the East Coast, and she fell in love with the region during the application process while visiting Canalside, city neighborhoods and university campuses.
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"I grew up in the Midwest, and Buffalo very much reminds me of Indianapolis," she told The Buffalo News.Ā Ā
Brashear succeeds Dr. Michael E. Cain, who oversaw a dramatic expansion of UB health programs during the last 15 years, particularly the last decade on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus with the opening of a Clinical and Translational Research Center, new Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical SciencesĀ andĀ UB Community Health Equity Research Institute.
Cain announced in April he would leave his administrative posts but continue as a medical school professor.
Dr. Michael E. Cain oversaw a dramatic transformation of the University at Buffaloās Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
UC-Davis, outside Sacramento, boasts 40,000 students, compared to 32,000 at UB, though its healthĀ care programs are smaller. A medical school, nursing school and internationally acclaimed veterinary school comprise its offerings.
Brashear will lead all five UB health sciences schools, which include the Jacobs School and schools of Dental Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Public Health and Health Professions. She will oversee collaboration, related hospital and clinical work, residency training and faculty practice plans, as well as serve on the UB senior leadership team.
UB has more than 2,000 students in the Jacobs School and almost twice that number scattered in the four related programs. Nearly 1,350 faculty members serve the schools.
"As the responsibilities of these positions have profound implications for both our universityās mission of excellence and the health and vitality of our region, it was imperative that we found a visionary leader whose work reflects a demonstrated and enduring commitment to serving the greater good,ā UB President Satish K. Tripathi said of Brashear in a statement. āGiven her distinguished and impactful career ā including as a longtime champion of inclusion and social justiceĀ ā I have every confidence that she will help us enhance UBās stature as a world-class leader in medical and health care education, training, research and clinical care.ā
The UC-Davis School of Medicine was ranked No. 4 for its diversity and No. 9 in family medicine under Brashear's leadership,Ā U.S. News & World Report reported last spring. It also holds high rankings in primary care and research. That includes innovative programs to address the national shortage of primary care physicians and improve health care in underserved rural and urban communities.
The school achieved record research awards of $368 million and last year more than doubled its clinical trial awards.Ā
āThis is a unique opportunity to help advance President Tripathiās vision for UB to be a top-25 public research university to improve lives,ā Brashear said of the new job, which she starts Dec. 6.
Brashear graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine, where she completed her residency in neurology, and later became a professor of neurology. She has led more than 40 clinical research trials during her 30-year career.
In 2005, she joined Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C., where she was the chair of neurology for 15 years.
While there, she started groundbreaking work on a group of rare neurologic disorders including rapid-onset dystonia-Parkinsonism, or RDP, which involves sudden onset of involuntary muscle contractions that can become painful and prevent the ability to walk and talk. She has co-led a clinical trial network designed to expedite therapy development for neurological disorders.
Brashear led the trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine that first showed botulinum toxin could successfully treat wrist and finger spasticity in stroke victims. She became dean of the UC-Davis School of Medicine in April 2019, and comes to UB with a reputation for meeting regularly with faculty, department chairs and students. She also is devoted to advancing leadership for young adults, women and underrepresented minorities.
She received an MBA in 2012 from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, with a focus on health-sector management, and completed the Harvard School of Public Health Leadership program for physicians.
Brashear and her husband, former attorney and civic activist Clifford Ong, will move to Buffalo soon with their two rescue dogs, a beagle named Hobbes and a border collie named Patches.Ā Their son, Richard, is completing his last year at Columbia Law School in New York City. Their daughter, Diane, is finishing her senior year at University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The new dean is a longtime friend of Dr. Sarah Berga, new professor and chair of the Jacobs School Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and is familiar with others who work in university health-related fields, particularly in neurology.
"I just love the opportunity to build interdisciplinary research," Brashear said. "I have heard a lot about President Tripathi and others from colleagues and friends. I'm really excited about the opportunity, the energy. And I've met some community leaders. They were so enthusiastic about all of the great work going on at UB. I wanted to be a part of it."