WASHINGTON (March 25, 2014) – The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) is pleased to announce that Lawrence “Bopper” Deyton, MSPH, M.D. ‘85, has been named senior associate dean for clinical public health effective March 22, 2014.
“Clinical public health is the enrichment of medical care with the principles of public health and population health that will be required of clinicians who practice in the 21st Century,” said Jeffrey S. Akman, M.D. '81, RESD '85, Walter A. Bloedorn Professor of Administrative Medicine, vice president for health affairs, and dean of SMHS. “Dr. Deyton’s expertise, experience, and energy will help enhance our education, training, and research programs to fulfill our responsibilities in clinical public health. I am thrilled that he will be joining us.”
In this new role, Deyton will work within SMHS and in collaboration with other GW schools, such as the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH), and outside organizations to promote education and training for clinicians on public health, population health, and the clinical applications of these principles to their professional responsibilities. He will provide guidance on curricular efforts; mentor students, trainees, and faculty; foster the development of funded research programs; and elevate the profile of SMHS in issues of clinical public health.
“I am tremendously excited to help execute Dean Akman’s vision. We at GW can and should be seen as the foremost educator of health care providers who are clinical public health leaders in their professional lives and in the communities where they live,” said Deyton. “I am inspired to do this for my Alma Mater. GW is a place that not only produces great clinicians, but is in close proximity to where major health decisions are made. GW students, faculty, and researchers have unparalleled opportunities to make their clinical voices heard in public health and population health discussions. I hope to help make that happen.”
Deyton has extensive experience in clinical medicine, public health, and research activities in the national arena, making him the ideal candidate to lead SMHS in this effort. As first director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Deyton is widely respected for science-based implementation and enforcement of the first public health tobacco regulations in the U.S. under the Tobacco Control Act of 2009. Prior to joining the FDA, Deyton was chief public health officer for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest provider of direct health care in the country serving over eight million veterans. He also served as chief of the HIV Therapeutics Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes for Health (NIH). Earlier in his career, Deyton was a congressional legislative assistant and a public health analyst for the surgeon general and assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to his position at SMHS since 1998, Deyton has taught and mentored students at the Milken Institute SPH as a professor in the Department of Health Policy.
Deyton also has long connections in the D.C. health community. For the last 16 years, Deyton has held a weekly clinic at the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center. In 1978, he was a co-founder of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, now the largest provider of care and services to area residents living with HIV infection.
Deyton received his Master of Science in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1976 and his M.D. degree from SMHS in 1985. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Southern California and then completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the NIH.
