David Baron, DO, Named Senior Vice President and Provost of Western University of Health Sciences
Published March 19, 2019
2019
David Baron, DO, MSEd, will become Senior Vice President and Provost of the Western University of Health Sciences, effective July 1, 2019. Dr. Baron will succeed Gary Gugelchuk, PhD, who has served as Provost and Chief Operating Officer of Western University since 2012. Dr. Gugelchuk will remain with the university as Professor, Provost Emeritus, and Special Advisor to the President.
As Senior Vice President and Provost, Dr. Baron will serve as Chief Academic Officer of the university, responsible for academic, accreditation, and budgetary affairs.
“WesternU is a very special place that celebrates a commitment to its core mission while never forgetting the role of humanism in training the next generation of graduate health providers and researchers,” Dr. Baron said in a recent WesternU press release. “I am very fortunate to be given the opportunity to contribute to this unique university as it continues to grow and mature into a world-class institution of health education.”
Dr. Baron joined the university in May 2018 after serving for eight years in roles within the Department of Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine, including Vice Dean for Global Health, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosurgery, Vice Chair of the Department, and Chief of Service at Keck-USC Hospital.
He received his DO degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) and a Master of Science in Education from the University of Southern California (USC). He is the former Deputy Clinical Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), former President of the American College of Neuropsychiatry and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and chaired the Department of Psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine from 1998-2010.
Dr. Baron was named a National Fulbright scholar in 2017-18 and conducted his research as Distinguished Chair in Brain Research at the University of Calgary. He also is the recipient of a Fulbright Specialist Award for 2016-21.