Dr. Giuseppe N Colasurdo, chair of the Department of Pediatrics, became dean of the UT Medical School at Houston Sept. 1. Here he takes time for a brief question and answer session.
Q: What are your short-term and long-term goals for the Medical School?
A: We must attain financial stability during this challenging time for academic medicine. Our new compensation plan has raised increasing awareness of a productivity based structure that will allow the School to support salaries, incentive payments and growth. It is a very complex plan and a simple formula would not be able to support and reward our educators, scientists and selected clinical faculty. As we continue to develop the best operational model for our environment, our immediate strategy is relatively straightforward: increase the clinical volume, aggressively pursue extramural funding and effectively manage our services and expenses.
We need to further align our vision with the Memorial Hermann Hospital System. Only a strong and close partnership will allow for a successful expansion of our clinical programs. Emphasis will be placed on the highest standard for patient care. This is a strong commitment of our institutions: excellence in patient care and services must be a core value of our culture.
The educational and research components of the school will have to be closely linked to the clinical programs. This is an unparalleled strength of our school and our great scientists and innovative strategies for the prevention and treatment of human diseases must be further promoted and expanded among the schools and within the Memorial Hermann System. A culture of excellence must be built on a collaborative spirit with the contribution of talented individuals: students, scientists, educators, clinicians and administrators. Our school has every component for greater future success: first-class science, visionary leadership, and administrative talent. We have so many gifted people in our schools and these individuals should be empowered to work together and enrich our intellectual environment in many ways.
We must retain our brightest students and attract the new leaders in basic and clinical sciences to the Medical School. In addition, we need to protect our best scientists as they have been the role models for our young investigators. These individuals represent the “core” of our mission and are uniquely positioned for leading our school to national prominence. The retention and recruitment of the best scientists can only be accomplished by the development of an ambitious and successful philanthropic effort.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
A: I think people see me as a team builder, bringing people together. I have tremendous respect for people’s contribution to the project and I seek advice from everyone. I value collaboration and strongly believe in a team of people built on human value and integrity. I am compassionate, and some may say I am very ambitious with my goals. I believe in empowering those best suited to get the job done.
Q: How do you plan to balance the chairmanship of the Department of Pediatrics simultaneously with the deanship?
A: It will be somewhat challenging to balance the two positions, but I am committed to maintaining the chair position to provide continuity to our project in the Department of Pediatrics. This is a project I committed to, and it is difficult to leave a project unfinished. I have a wonderful group of division chiefs and faculty who share the same goals and values.
Q: You have been on faculty of the Medical School for 12 years. Did you always have ambitions to become dean?
A: No, I never imagined that I would be dean, but I like challenging projects and building programs and am fully aware of the potential consequences of my career decision. It is an enormous responsibility and the reward of building a culture of excellence is something that far outweighs any previous career goals. The role of dean is clearly not a one-person job, but I have outstanding individuals working shoulder-to-shoulder with me.
Q: What drove your interest in pediatrics?
A: Pediatrics was a very competitive specialty in Italy – and I want what I can’t have. My goal was to develop a research program with a link to prevention. The root of many diseases is found in infancy and my thesis and original research interest was in the development of airway hyper-responsiveness and childhood asthma.
Q: How/why did you come to Texas?
A: I was able to come to Texas through the sponsorship of my father, who was a tailor. I was born in a very small town in Italy, Morrone Del Sannio – only 700 people live there today – and was the second of five children. When I was young, the United States requested Italian tailors, and my dad was among a couple of dozen who were selected. He came to Rochester, NY and worked there for nineteen years. He returned to Italy in 1987, and in 1988, I decided to move to the United States to pursue my medical education – I wanted to receive the best medical training in the world. I had to fight him a bit on that because he didn’t want me to go. My family is all back in Italy now.
Q: You recently became an American citizen. Do you have dual citizenship? Why is that important?
A: Now that I am an American citizen, I can vote. And, if I get fired, since I also have Italian citizenship, I can move back to Europe and get free education, free health care and even skip the lines at the airports since I have a U.S. and Italian passport. Italy is one of the few countries that allows dual citizenship with the United States.
Q: How do you balance your busy work schedule with other activities -- and what do you do for fun?
A: I like soccer, tennis and bike riding. Please don’t ask me about my golfing skills.
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