William Weglicki, M.D., professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and professor of Medicine, has assumed the role of Acting Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine while Dr. Rakesh Kumar is on temporary leave from the Chair position. Dr. Weglicki joined the GW SMHS faculty in 1985, and has held many leadership positions during his time at GW.
He served as chair of the department of Physiology and Experimental Medicine from 1991 to 2003. As chair, he made major strides, including the implementation of a strategic plan, which resulted in significant expansion of the department’s research portfolio and organized the medical student teaching program. This department was merged with Pharmacology to create the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology.
Along with a core group of investigators, Dr. Weglicki was instrumental in organizing and identifying opportunities for collaboration between faculty members from various departments, including cardiology, nephrology, biochemistry and molecular biology, pathology, and physiology. This forward thinking strategy led to the award of a Program Project Grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Dr. Weglicki has served on multiple NIH study sections and editorial boards of prestigious medical journals. He regularly speaks at national and international conferences and was elected president of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico section of the International Society for Heart Research. He also was elected to chair of the Gordon Conference on Magnesium in Biochemical Processes and Medicine. He continues to see patients in the cardiology clinic of the GW Medical Faculty Associates.
Dr. Weglicki received his M.D. from the University of Maryland and did his residency at Georgetown University Hospital. He also completed a fellowship in cardiology at Duke University Medical Center. In addition to holding positions at GW and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, he has held positions at the NIH, was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and was the Chair of the Department of Biophysics at the Medical College of Virginia.
Dr. Weglicki assumed the role of acting chair on May 29, 2014.
