Patricia W. Finn, MD, professor and head of the Department of Medicine, associate dean for Strategic Initiatives and an associate program director for the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC), has been named dean of The University of New Mexico School of Medicine.
In addition to her leadership roles, Dr. Finn is a noted clinician, teacher and physician scientist. She is the Earl M. Bane endowed professor at the University of Illinois, with additional faculty appointments in Microbiology, Immunology and Bioengineering. She has served as president of the American Thoracic Society and is the immediate past president of the Association of Professors of Medicine.
She will become the fifth dean in the UNM School of Medicine’s 61-year history when she assumes her new duties September 1.
“We are fortunate to have recruited Dr. Finn to lead the School of Medicine,” said Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH, executive vice president for Health Sciences and CEO of the UNM Health System.
“She is a national and international leader who has made a big impact in her prior leadership roles and is also a very well-respected clinician, teacher, mentor and researcher. Her mature leadership abilities, commitment to inclusive excellence and strong sense of the mission to enhance the health of all New Mexicans here in New Mexico is quite clear.”
UNM President Garnett S. Stokes said Finn’s appointment would benefit all New Mexicans.
“I could not be more pleased by the selection of Dr. Finn as our new dean of the UNM School of Medicine,” Stokes said. “I am confident she will enrich the proud legacy of the school and provide a holistic approach to the most critical parts of our unique mission to advance health and health equity for the citizens of New Mexico.”
Dr. Finn said she was drawn to UNM’s mission of promoting health equity, especially for New Mexico’s rural and underserved populations. “To be the model for the integration of scientific discovery with efforts to improve health disparities is compelling,” she said.
“My job as a physician leader is to provide exceptional care for all in the context of scientific discovery as we train the next generation, because we are part of a local and global community,” she said. “That’s what I bring to the table.”
Dr. Finn leads a department comprised of nine divisions, with more than 200 faculty, 725 staff and 235 residents and fellows, that provides critical care to the underserved in Chicago’s highly diverse inner-city population as well as health services across Illinois.
Finn is the daughter of Irish immigrants, and the first generation in her family to attend college and become a physician. She grew up in Alphabet City, a gritty neighborhood in New York City’s East Village. “I’m pretty feisty,” she said. “I don’t worry about challenges and opportunities. That upbringing has only taught me to look at the North Star.”
Her parents instilled an ethic of compassion and respect for the less fortunate that drives her commitment to help the underprivileged. “I want to be a voice for those who may be voiceless – to have a seat at the table to make a difference.”
Dr. Finn graduated medical school and residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in immunology at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Finn served as a physician, teacher and investigator at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was the Kenneth M. Moser professor of medicine and director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, before moving to Chicago in 2012.
In her research, Dr. Finn focuses on the microbiome and immune-mediated pulmonary diseases, including asthma, sarcoidosis, transplantation and lung injury. In addition to advancing research and mentoring other scholars, she has received numerous National Institutes of Health grant awards as principal investigator of R01s, R38s, T32s, as well as other research funding, and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters on topics that include fundamental immunology, computational analysis, health disparities and social justice.
She has been invited to present her discoveries at national and international academic meetings and has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Journal of Immunology and the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
Dr. Finn has received multiple awards and honors, including the Career Investigator Award from the American Lung Association, Lynne M. Reid Scholar in Medicine Award from Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth A. Rich Award from the American Thoracic Society and the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine Distinguished Faculty of the Year. In 2007, she was inducted into the prestigious Association of American Physicians in recognition of her academic achievements and contributions to advancing medical knowledge.
In 2022, she will be inducted into the American Clinical and Climatological Association in recognition of her commitment as a physician scientist who is passionate about improving medical education, research and practice in the U.S.
Dr. Finn is married to David L. Perkins, MD, PhD, a tenured professor of Medicine and Bioengineering, director of the kidney transplantation program, program director for the Innovation Track in Medicine and director of the MSTP Advisory Council at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Perkins is an accomplished clinician leader who has developed transplant services as well as being a valued mentor, researcher and innovator. He will be joining the School of Medicine as faculty in the UNM Department of Internal Medicine.