It is my pleasure to announce that the Divisions of General Medicine and Geriatrics (GMG) and General Medical Sciences (GMS) will come together to form the Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics under the leadership of Bradley Evanoff, MD, MPH, effective July 1, 2024. Dr. Evanoff, the Richard A. and Elizabeth Henby Sutter Chair in Occupational, Industrial, and Environmental Medicine and has served as Chief of the Division of General Medical Sciences since 1998.
Dr. Evanoff is a nationally recognized researcher in the epidemiology of work-related injuries and illnesses. His research involves risk factor epidemiology, the development and validation of measurement and diagnostic tools, measurement of functional and clinical outcomes, and workplace-based intervention studies. He serves on national and international groups advancing workplace health, and currently serves as the Associate Director of the Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest – a joint center with the University of Iowa and one of ten Total Worker Health Centers of Excellence funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Dr. Evanoff’s work has resulted in changes in national safety and health standards to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and has been recognized by a number of awards from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and other organizations.
Dr. Evanoff has had a variety of leadership roles at Washington University School of Medicine. He led creation of the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation degree program and the Mentored Training Program in Clinical Investigation, which have helped advance the careers of hundreds of fellows and junior faculty over the past two decades. He was the founding Co-Director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS) in 2007, and Directed the ICTS from 2010-2019, where he implemented new pilot funding opportunities, increased the accessibility of specialized research cores, started new programs in community engaged research, and developed new research partnerships with regional and national institutions. Most recently has served on the leadership team that has designed and implemented the new School of Public Health at WashU.
In addition to his research and administrative roles, Dr. Evanoff has been recognized by Lecturer of the Year awards, Distinguished Service Teaching awards, and by a Distinguished Faculty Award recognizing outstanding commitment to the intellectual and personal development of students.
Dr. Evanoff received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, and his medical degree from Washington University. Following a residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, he completed a Fogarty post-doctoral fellowship at the Swedish National Institute of Occupational Health. He was then a fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he also received his Master’s Degree in Public Health.
I also want to recognize and extend my sincere gratitude to Thomas M. De Fer, MD, the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Professor of Medical Education, for his exceptional leadership while serving as the Chief of the Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics. Dr. De Fer has had a long and distinguished career in the Department of Medicine, being actively engaged in medical education for more than 30 years.
Dr. De Fer is well known as an outstanding teacher and a nationally recognized leader in medical education. He has served in a number of important leadership roles, including being the Clerkship Director for the internal medicine clerkship for 19 years, Course Director for the Honors Medicine Sub-Internship, Director of the Ambulatory Care Experiences for Students (ACES) Program, and Associate Director for the Mentors in Medicine Program for the internal medicine residents. He is also well known as an outstanding clinician who takes great care of patients, both in the outpatient clinic setting and on the inpatient internal medicine wards. He loves attending on the internal medicine firm, supervising a team of residents, interns, and medical students in caring for complex medical patients with multiple comorbidities and seeing patients with residents and students in the Primary Care Medicine Clinic. We are all incredibly grateful to Dr. De Fer for his outstanding leadership and vision during his years as Chief of the General Medicine and Geriatrics Division.
Dr. Evanoff is exceptionally qualified to take on this new role. The integration of these divisions will create a strong academic division of General Internal Medicine, with the vision of transforming complex care delivery through a commitment to excellence in education and the discovery and application of innovative solutions. Please join me in offering your congratulations to him.