Northwestern’s medical school names new dean

Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has named a new dean.

School officials announced Wednesday that 61-year-old Dr. Eric Neilson of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine will start as dean on Sept. 1. He also has been appointed chairman of the board of the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation.

Neilson succeeds Dr. J. Larry Jameson, who served as dean from 2007 to 2010, and Dr. Jeffrey Glassroth, who has been interim dean since Jan. 1.

Neilson chaired Vanderbilt’s department of medicine from 1998 to 2010.

The Vanderbilt medical center became a $2.4 billion enterprise under Neilson. He helped increase clinical practice revenues and research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The department of medicine’s faculty grew from 270 to nearly 650. He also helped increase the department of medicine’s endowment.