This story was originally produced by the Valley News. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine has named a new dean.
Dr. Jennifer Hunt, who currently serves as interim dean at the University of Florida College of Medicine, will begin her new role on Aug. 1, according to a news release from the college.
Hunt, a pathologist, will be the first woman to lead the medical school, which was founded 229 years ago in 1797. Her appointment comes about three years after Dartmouth President Sian Beilock became the first woman to lead the college, beginning her tenure in 2023.
“Jennifer Hunt is an exceptional physician-leader with deep experience in academic medicine and a strong commitment to interdisciplinary and translational research, as well as to mentoring the next generation of medical professionals,” Dartmouth Provost Santiago Schnell said in the release.
Since joining the University of Florida in 2020, Hunt served as chair of the department of pathology, immunology, and laboratory medicine. Additionally, she oversaw more than 2,000 employees in her role as chief of the hospital medical staff of UF Health Shands Hospital and clinics, based in Gainesville, Fla.
Hunt earned her medical degree and a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania, according to the release. She did her residency in anatomic pathology and a molecular genetic pathology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed articles throughout her career, including work in various roles at the University of Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Clinic, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
“I am looking forward to getting to know the Geisel School of Medicine’s faculty, staff, students, and trainees and collaborating with them to build upon the school’s rich history of innovation and excellence,” Hunt said in the release.
Hunt will replace interim dean Dr. Steven Leach, who has served in the role since last September; Dr. Duane Compton left the post last summer after serving as dean since 2017. Leach, who served as director of the Dartmouth Cancer Center until last fall, is planning on returning to Geisel’s Department of Molecular and Systems Biology to continue his cancer genetics research, according to an April 2025 news release from Geisel. Last month, Dartmouth Health announced it had hired Dr. Roy Herbst to lead the Dartmouth Cancer Center.
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