Biography
Andrew W. Artenstein, MD, MBA, interim vice president for health affairs (VPHA) and dean of the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), is a renowned infectious disease physician-scientist and academic medicine leader.
Most recently, Artenstein served as the regional executive dean and professor of medicine for UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, president of Baystate Medical Practices and chief physician executive/chief academic officer for Baystate Health. In those roles, he provided leadership and accountability for the physician enterprise and presided over undergraduate and graduate medical education and the research enterprises at Baystate. Prior to these roles, he served as the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Baystate Health and the Chair of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine at Baystate.
Artenstein’s executive achievements are the culmination of a career defined by rigorous scientific inquiry and strategic public health leadership. His professional path began with a distinguished foundation in military medicine and infectious disease research.
After receiving his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine, Artenstein completed an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in infectious diseases and tropical medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. During 10 years of active-duty service in the United States Army Medical Corps, he served as Head of the Section of Protective Immunity at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In this role, he led global epidemiologic efforts that established the foundation for the U.S. military’s HIV-1 prophylactic vaccine trials in Thailand.
Transitioning to academic leadership, he joined Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island (MHRI) and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Shortly before 9/11, he founded the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Pathogens, where he coordinated national pandemic preparedness and led pivotal vaccine trials for biothreat agents, including next-generation smallpox countermeasures. His leadership extended to serving as Physician-in-Chief at MHRI, where he directed the Department of Medicine as the senior physician executive for a decade.
A prolific scholar, Artenstein holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management and has published more than 110 scholarly works. He is the author of “In the Blink of an Eye: The Deadly Story of Epidemic Meningitis,” and the lead editor of “Vaccines: A Biography.” His career-long contributions to public health were nationally recognized in 2020, when he was named a U.S. News & World Report “Hospital Hero” for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.