A distinguished educator, clinician and researcher, G. Nicholas Verne, MD, is the new chair of the Department of Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Dr. Verne, who was selected after an extensive national search, will also hold the Lemuel W. Diggs Alumni Professorship in Medicine. He will begin his work at UTHSC in November.
Dr. Verne has served as chair of the Department of Medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine for the past five years. He held the Harry B. Greenberg, MD, Chair in Internal Medicine. He has also served as chief medical officer for the Tulane University Health System.
Dr. Verne has been a funded investigator for more than 20 years. He is internationally recognized for his studies of epigenetic regulation of enteric neural pathways. His research program focuses on gastrointestinal molecular, physiology, and signaling pathways. His work includes studies of miRNA signaling mechanisms that regulate intestinal permeability, gastrointestinal inflammation, and intestinal neuroplasticity.
Dr. Verne is the principal investigator for two National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grants and the co-chair of the Digestive Diseases and Nutrition Study Section for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH.
A native of upstate New York, Dr. Verne earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. He received his medical degree from SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and completed his residency in internal medicine at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York. Dr. Verne completed his gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he was a NIH T32 Research Fellow.
Dr. Verne has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including JCI (The Journal of Clinical Investigation), Gastroenterology, and Gut. He is on the editorial board of Gastroenterology, as well as the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.
He received the American Gastroenterological Association Master’s Award in Gastroenterology for outstanding achievement in basic and clinical digestive sciences and is an elected fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Gastroenterological Association.
“The College of Medicine is delighted to announce the recruitment of G. Nicholas Verne, MD, as our new chair of the Department of Medicine,” said Scott Strome, MD, the Robert Kaplan Executive Dean of the UTHSC College of Medicine. The Department of Medicine is one of 27 departments in the College of Medicine. “Dr. Verne is an accomplished scientist, educator, administrator, and clinician. As the chair of Medicine at Tulane, he built a reputation for improving clinical relationships and education, and for enhancing the culture of research through support of existing faculty and investment in and recruitment of new faculty. He leads by example with two NIH research grants and is a mentor to multiple faculty and an active clinician.”
Dr. Verne said the Department of Medicine at UTHSC has a distinguished reputation for academic excellence with many outstanding faculty members. “It is a great honor to join UTHSC under Dr. Scott Strome’s leadership,” he said. “The Department of Medicine is poised to be one of the leading departments in the state of Tennessee in all areas of the academic mission, including translational research, teaching, and world-class patient care.”