I am pleased to announce that Michael J. Clare-Salzler, M.D., a professor and the Stetson Chair in Experimental Pathology, has been named chair of the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Clare-Salzler has been a faculty member of the department for 17 years and has served in several leadership capacities, most recently as interim chair. He also holds appointments in the departments of Surgery and Internal Medicine-Endocrinology and is the director of UF’s Center for Immunology and Transplantation. Under his direction, the department has fostered the development of the faculty and advanced clinical research programs.
Dr. Clare-Salzler is an internationally known researcher, physician and educator, a true “triple-threat” academic physician. His major research focus is in understanding the role of antigen-presenting cells in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes. He has made several notable contributions to the field, including dendritic cell-based vaccines to induce immune tolerance, published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, and holds seven therapeutic patents. In addition, he has translated his bench work to the bedside and has active clinical disease prevention trials in type 1 diabetes. The National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fund his research. He serves on several NIH and JDRF study sections, clinical trial committees for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as other national leadership committees. He also plays a key role in the development of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute and heads the CTSI Biorepository.
He received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he also completed his residency in internal medicine and was president of the SUNY Buffalo House Staff Association. He completed his research fellowship in endocrinology and immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and served on the faculty there until 1993. He is board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology. In 1993, he joined the University of Florida College of Medicine as an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine and the Diabetes Center.
Please join me in offering congratulations and support to Dr. Clare-Salzler for this important leadership appointment in the UF College of Medicine.
Michael L. Good, M.D.
Dean, UF College of Medicine
Folke H. Peterson Dean’s Distinguished Professor