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Community event to welcome new medical school dean

Feb. 18, 2011

KALAMAZOO--Dr. Hal B. Jenson, who was named last month as the founding dean for a new medical school at Western Michigan University, will be formally welcomed to the Kalamazoo community during a Thursday, Feb. 24, reception in downtown Kalamazoo.

Photo of WMU School of Medicine Dean Hal Jenson.Jenson and his family will be honored and introduced at an event, set for 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel. WMU President John M. Dunn and Jenson will make brief remarks at 5:15 p.m. to a crowd that is expected to include members of the University and broader Kalamazoo communities as well as members of the area medical establishment. The reception is open to the public.

Jenson's appointment was announced Jan. 25. He was selected from among nearly 60 candidates whose credentials were considered by a community committee in the search for a founding dean of the medical school. The school is a community partnership involving Borgess Health, Bronson Healthcare and the University.

Jenson is coming to Kalamazoo from Tufts University, where he served as professor of pediatrics and regional dean for the Western Campus of the Tufts School of Medicine. He is expected to begin his duties at WMU this spring.

Jenson is an alumnus of Brigham Young University who earned a medical degree from George Washington University and later earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He completed a residency in pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital at Case Western Reserve University and a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Yale University School of Medicine. He also was a visiting fellow in molecular biology at Cambridge's Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

In addition to his current role as a regional dean at Tufts, Jenson's career has included faculty positions at the Yale University School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he served as chair of pediatrics. Active in education and clinical activities, he specializes in clinical infectious diseases and virology.

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Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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