The Dean's Administration

Lawrence G. Smith, M.D.
Dean, Hofstra University School of Medicine
in partnership with North Shore-LIJ Health System

On March 26, 2008, Hofstra University, after formalizing our partnership with North Shore-LIJ Health System, announced the appointment of Lawrence G. Smith, MD, as the founding dean of the Hofstra University School of Medicine in partnership with North Shore-LIJ Health System. As founding dean, Dr. Smith will be responsible for leading the strategic planning to develop the curriculum, facilities and programs of the new medical school, as well as facilitating the accreditation process and recruiting administrators and faculty.

In addition to serving as dean of the new medical school, Dr. Smith will continue in his role as chief medical officer at the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Lawrence G. Smith. MD, is the 15-hospital health system’s senior physician, responsible for the overall professional management of clinical, education, research and operational issues related to all medical and clinical affairs throughout North Shore-LIJ. Dr. Smith had held this position since September 1, 2006.

Dr. Smith joined North Shore-LIJ in May 2005 as chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs. In this capacity, Dr. Smith strengthened the health system’s graduate medical education programs and expanded medical school affiliations, significantly enhancing North Shore-LIJ’s ability to recruit medical students and residents. In addition, Dr. Smith was responsible for overseeing the 15-hospital health system’s medical student education programs and academic faculty appointments. Dr. Smith was also accountable for establishing close relationships with doctors and hospitals throughout North Shore-LIJ that enhanced the health system’s partnerships with staff and community-based physicians and improved physician recruitment efforts.

Before joining North Shore-LIJ, Dr. Smith was at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, where he served as dean (beginning in 2002) and chairman of medical education, founder and director of the school’s Institute for Medical Education, professor of medicine and an attending physician. He joined the faculty of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1994 as vice chairman of the Department of Medicine and residency program director. Prior to his career at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Smith practiced general medicine at the State University of New York’s Stony Brook University Hospital, where he became a full-time faculty member, director of education and program director of the hospital’s residency program in internal medicine.

Dr. Smith is a former president of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, a Regent of the American College of Physicians, and he is on the executive committee of the Organization of Program Directors Association. Dr. Smith began his career practicing general internal medicine in Huntington, NY, and then serving as residency program director in the Department of Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center. Dr. Smith has held senior leadership positions in national societies for medical education and residency training, authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in the area of medical education, and received awards and honors from national and international organizations.

Dr. Smith earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Fordham University and a M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine. His residency in Internal Medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital was followed by military service as captain in the Army Medical Corps, at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver.

Veronica Catanese, M.D.
Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

A graduate of Wellesley College, Dr. Veronica M. Catanese received her medical education at the New York University School of Medicine, where she was elected to membership in Alpha Omega Alpha. After completing her residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine, as well as a clinical fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at NYU Medical Center, Dr. Catanese pursued a research fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center of Harvard Medical School before returning as a junior faculty member to the NYU School of Medicine.

While at NYU, Dr. Catanese studied the molecular mechanisms by which insulin-like growth factors promote diabetic nephropathy and participate in the hypertrophic response to pressure overload in the heart. In parallel with pursuing her research interests and training fellows, house staff and medical students in the laboratory, Dr. Catanese directed both the fellowship training program in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and the cross-disciplinary second year medical school course in the Pathophysiologic Basis of Medicine. Over the past decade, she has served as the Senior Associate Dean for Education and Student Affairs of the NYU School of Medicine, Firm Chief and Director of Resident Research in the Department of Medicine, and a tenured Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cell Biology.

Throughout her professional career, Dr. Catanese has participated actively in the greater community of academic medicine. She has served as a national councilor, Public Policy chair, President and Foundation President of the American Federal for Medical Research, and as Editor-in-Chief of that organization’s translational medicine journal, The Journal of Investigative Medicine. Dr. Catanese was selected as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Clinical Research Roundtable and as co-chair of the training subcommittee of the NIH Director’s Clinical Research Roadmap working group. Chair of an NIH translational medicine/technology transfer study section, she recently received her M. B. A. from the NYU Stern School of Business.

June Scarlett
Associate Dean for Administration

June E. Scarlett, MSc, MPH, is the Associate Dean for Administration for the Hofstra University School of Medicine in partnership with North Shore-LIJ Health System. Associate Dean Scarlett will work with Dean Smith in establishing the new School at Hofstra University, recruiting faculty and administrators, and working on preliminary accreditation. Since 2004, Associate Dean Scarlett has served as the Senior Administrative Director of the Department of Medicine at the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Prior to joining North Shore-LIJ, Associate Dean Scarlett held senior positions at Continuum Health Partners, Inc., New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, and Community Counseling and Mediation.

Associate Dean Scarlett has an MSc in Medical Anthropology from the University of London, University College; an MPH from the Columbia University School of Public Health; and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.