Insights

Dr. Paul Klotman began serving as president and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine on Sept. 1, 2010. He received his B.S. degree in 1972 from the University of Michigan and his M.D. from Indiana University in 1976. He completed his medicine and nephrology training at Duke University Medical Center. He stayed at Duke as a faculty member, rising to the rank of associate professor of medicine before moving to the NIH in 1988, where he became chief of the molecular medicine section in the laboratory of developmental biology. In 1993, he became chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory in the NIDR/NIH. In 1994, he moved to Mount Sinai School of Medicine as the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and the chief of the division of nephrology. In 2001, he was selected to be the chair of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The College’s Board of Trustees named him as the school’s new president in July of 2010.

Klotman’s research has been a blend of both basic and clinical research in molecular virology and AIDS pathogenesis. He developed the first small animal model of HIV associated nephropathy using transgenic techniques. He is the author of more than 200 publications, and he has been a visiting professor and lecturer internationally in the field of HIV pathogenesis. He has been elected to both the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is on the editorial boards of journals both in the United States and in Europe, and he has served on and chaired numerous study sections including those from the NIH, the American Heart Association, the National Kidney Foundation, and the VA research service.

In addition to his laboratory efforts, Klotman has been an active clinician, teacher and mentor. Students from his laboratory have won prestigious scientific competitions. He has trained more than 50 clinical fellows, postdoctoral fellows, and students in his laboratory since 1984, most of whom are independently funded. And, he was named Physician of the Year by Mount Sinai nurses. As the chair of medicine, he moved the department of medicine at Mount Sinai to a top tier academic program by expanding the faculty practice, increasing basic and clinical research revenues, developing new community projects and focusing on the educational mission.

Klotman serves on the scientific advisory boards of biotech, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. He also serves on the board of several companies including those with interests in natural resources and conservation.

At Baylor, he oversees the only private health science university in the Greater Southwest, with research funding of nearly $400 million. The medical school is ranked as one of the top 25 for research and one of the top ten for primary care by U.S. News & World Report. The School of Health Professions is among the best 15 in the nation and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is rated in the top five percent. In addition, the College is home to the first National School of Tropical Medicine in North America. The College is ranked first among all Texas colleges, universities and medical schools in federal funding for research and development, and is ranked second in federally funded research expenditures by the National Science Foundation.