I am pleased to announce that following a national search, Janice Zgibor, BS Pharm, PhD, CPH, will become the new dean of the and senior associate vice president of USF Health, effective July 3.
Dr. Zgibor, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs for USF Health and senior associate dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the USF Health College of Public Health, is ideally positioned to lead the Taneja College of Pharmacy into the future. She has spent the past year as a special advisor to Jay Wolfson, DrPH, JD, interim dean of the College of Pharmacy, and already has a deep understanding of the College鈥檚 strengths and opportunities for growth.
Dr. Zgibor also brings a wealth of experience in academic leadership to the role, as well as frontline knowledge of the pharmacy profession, a mix that prepares her well for the road ahead. She earned her BS in Pharmacy from the University of Pittsburgh and began her professional career as a practicing pharmacist, where she observed issues with patient access to the health care system firsthand. Those experiences prompted her to move into epidemiology so that she could make an impact at the population level. She went on to earn her MPH and her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism.
In 2015, Dr. Zgibor joined the USF Health College of Public Health, where she serves as professor of epidemiology and has held a series of leadership roles, including as director of both the PhD Program in Epidemiology and the Doctor of Public Health program. She has conducted multiple studies that have contributed to improved models of chronic disease care, particularly in diabetes prevention, education and care delivery, funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Diabetes Association and others. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, been an invited lecturer to national and international conferences and been an editor or editorial board member for several journals, including Diabetes Spectrum, Epidemiology: Current Research and Preventing Chronic Disease. She also has served on multiple review panels and advisory boards for the NIH, the ADA and others.
Over the past year, Dr. Zgibor already has been closely involved in analyzing the College of Pharmacy鈥檚 curriculum and helping implement educational changes to ensure that we are preparing our students for success in their board exams and their careers. She has also developed strong relationships with many of our excellent faculty members in Pharmacy and will work with them to increase our research funding and expenditures.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Wolfson for stepping in as interim dean over the past year, a role he previously performed for the College of Public Health. USF Health continues to benefit from his broad range of experience, academic talents and willingness to serve wherever called upon.
We are fortunate to be able to bring Dr. Zgibor鈥檚 talents for advancing academic innovation, student success, research discovery and faculty development to lead the Taneja College of Pharmacy, and I am confident that she will continue to elevate the strong record of this young college as we move forward into this next chapter. Please join me in congratulating her.