Thomas J. Wang, a nationally recognized physician-scientist and academic leader, has been appointed the next dean of the Medical School, effective Sept. 15, 2025. He will also hold the title of professor with tenure in the Department of Internal Medicine.
The appointment will be reported to the Board of Regents at its Sept. 18 meeting.
Wang will succeed Marschall Runge, who has served as dean of the Medical School since 2016, as well as executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of Michigan Medicine, since 2015. Runge, who is retiring from his leadership roles and returning to the Medical School faculty, was the first person in the university’s history to hold all three of these roles at one time.
In a letter to the Michigan Medicine community, Laurie McCauley, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and David Miller, who succeeded Runge as executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of Michigan Medicine, expressed gratitude to the search advisory committee members for their exceptional service, and to Runge for his dedication and continued service as medical school dean during the transition period.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Wang to our leadership team,” Miller said. “His vision for interdisciplinary collaboration, scientific innovation, and transformative education aligns seamlessly with our mission to train the next generation of physicians, scientists, and healthcare leaders.”
Wang will report to both the provost and the executive vice president for medical affairs, consistent with the integrated Michigan Medicine structure.
“His scholarship encompasses the continuum from fundamental research to clinical application, but it is his ability to orchestrate complex academic enterprises that makes him uniquely qualified for Michigan Medicine,” McCauley said. “He is the visionary leader our Medical School requires as we address the most critical health challenges facing society.”
Wang currently serves as professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and holds the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
In February 2020, Wang joined UT Southwestern and led its largest department through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. During peak surges, the department served as the primary service for the vast majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, nearly 500 a day across three hospitals.
“I’m truly honored to join the University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine,” Wang said. “I’m very familiar with the medical school’s legacy of outstanding patient care, discovery, and education, and it has been great to learn about all the ways the institution is building on that tradition. I’m excited to have the opportunity to contribute to this incredible community as the next dean.”
After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College, Wang earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency and cardiovascular fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Framingham Heart Study.
From 2003-13, Wang was on the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he led a program in patient-oriented research and pursued clinical work in heart failure and transplantation. From 2013-20, he served as director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and physician-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute.
Wang’s research focuses on the natriuretic peptide system, cardiovascular biomarkers and prevention. He has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and has been named to the Highly Cited Researchers List by Clarivate/Web of Science for six consecutive years.
As the seventh chair in the history of UT Southwestern’s Department of Internal Medicine, Wang has recruited more than 400 new faculty. During his tenure, the department’s clinical volume and research expenditures each grew by nearly 50%. Its training programs also expanded in size and scope, and with the addition of several new tracks, the internal medicine residency is now the second largest in the country.
At the institutional level, Wang has led the UT Southwestern Clinical Chairs Committee, co-chaired the institution’s six-year strategic plan steering committee, and served on the executive boards of the Medical Group and service line oversight committees.
Nationally, Wang is president-elect of the Association of Professors of Medicine, the professional organization of internal medicine chairs. He also serves as a standing member of the FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee and the NIH Human Studies of Diabetes and Obesity study section.
Wang is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. His commitment to education has been recognized with the American Heart Association Genomics and Precision Medicine Mentoring Award in 2024 and the Outstanding Mentor Award from Mass General Brigham in 2012.
— Beata Mostafavi of the Michigan Medicine Department of Communication contributed to this report
Pamela Howard
You might want to consider adding MD or MD, PhD (if applicable) after the first mention of Dr. Wang’s name? It just looked a little funny to me. Thomas J. Wang, MD
Pamela Howard
Retired UM Residency Administrator
The University Record
Hi Pamela:
Thank you for your comment and suggestion. With the vast number of faculty and staff with advanced degrees across campus — and the potential for inadvertently missing a title — it has long been the Record’s policy to omit the degree acronyms and prefixes from names in stories.