Daniel E. Ford has been named vice dean for clinical
investigation at the
School of Medicine. A professor at both the School of
Medicine and Bloomberg
School of Public Health, Ford will replace Michael
Klag, who will become dean of the Bloomberg School in
September.
Ford will lead one of the largest clinical research
enterprises in the world. For the past 13 years, Johns
Hopkins has been the No. 1 recipient of National Institutes
of Health biomedical research funding, much of which is for
clinical investigation.
"Dan Ford is uniquely qualified to oversee the
clinical research enterprise at Hopkins," said Edward D.
Miller, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns
Hopkins Medicine. "His own broad research experience helps
him understand the needs of our clinician-scientists as
well as the importance of protecting patients participating
in research studies. We are extremely fortunate to have
someone of Dan's caliber to fill the shoes of Michael Klag,
who developed the role of vice dean for clinical
investigation."
Ford said that one of his goals is to promote the idea
of subjects as partners in research. "I don't think we have
done enough to thank them for their commitment and
willingness to contribute to scientific progress," he
said.
Widely regarded as a pioneer in research associated
with interrelationships between mental disorders and
chronic medical conditions, Ford gained international
acclaim for clinical studies documenting depression as an
independent risk factor for coronary heart disease and for
describing long-term health risks related to sleep
disturbances. Recently he was selected by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation to direct the evaluation of its $12
million Depression in Primary Care Initiative, and he is
one of a handful of generalists who have served on National
Institute of Mental Health clinical review groups.
Additionally, Ford has been the principal investigator for
12 years of a training grant to develop researchers in
general internal medicine.
A leader in using the Internet for clinical research,
Ford also worked with the Johns Hopkins group that
developed e-IRB, an electronic process for submitting
proposals to the institutional review boards.
Ford came to Hopkins in 1982 as a medical resident
and, except for a brief time as a National Institutes of
Health fellow, has been on the faculty ever since. He
joined the Division of Internal Medicine faculty in 1988
and has joint appointments in Psychiatry at the School of
Medicine and in Epidemiology and in Health Policy and
Management at the School of Public Health. He has more than
120 publications and book chapters to his name and was
associate editor of the Journal of General Internal
Medicine and a member of the editorial board of General
Hospital Psychiatry.
In addition to his accomplishments in clinical work,
research and teaching, Ford has served Johns Hopkins in
several administrative capacities. He was director of the
University Health Service for 12 years and a member of the
oversight committee for the preventive medicine and
occupational medicine residency programs. He served on the
Committee for Faculty Development and Gender, the
Admissions Committee for the School of Medicine and, for 10
years, the General Clinical Research Center protocol and
advisory committees. He also directs the Health Information
Management Group that oversees use of the Johns Hopkins
brand name for commercial health information products
targeted to the lay public.
GO TO