Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, announced several key personnel changes in the School of Medicine over the past few weeks, including that Michael Becich, chair and founder of the Department of Biomedical Informatics, will step down as chair as of Nov. 1.

Becich founded the department in 2006 and, during the ensuing 19 years at its helm, built one of the top biomedical informatics programs in the nation, according to Shekhar’s announcement.

Shyam Visweswaran, professor of biomedical informatics and vice chair for clinical informatics, has been appointed interim chair. Visweswaran was the first faculty member recruited to Department of Biomedical Informatics in 2007. He has emerged as one of the most highly cited scientific leaders in artificial intelligence and machine learning as applied to biomedicine and in creating informatics resources to enable large-scale electronic health record research.

Visweswaran also directs the Center for Clinical Artificial Intelligence, which brings together clinical, AI and informatics experts from the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC, and Carnegie Mellon University to develop clinical decision support tools that use human-in-the-loop AI rather than autonomous AI.

Becich has served the School of Medicine for 34 years and will continue as distinguished professor of biomedical informatics and as senior advisor to the School of Medicine dean and to interim chair Visweswaran. He also will return to his research and mentoring of students, faculty and physician-scientists.

Other new appointments

Family medicine: Mark W. Meyer and Eric Frankel have been named interim co-chairs of the Department of Family Medicine, effective Oct. 1. Meyer, who serves as division chief of family medicine at UPMC Shadyside as well as assistant professor and director of international and social medicine in the Department of Family Medicine, will serve as interim chair of academic affairs. Frankel, who was appointed vice president of UPMC’s primary care service line in December, will serve as interim chair of clinical affairs. Frankel also will be recommended for appointment as an assistant professor of family medicine at the School of Medicine. 

They are replacing Tracey Conti, who served as department chair of family medicine since 2021. Conti took a new position as vice dean of clinical affairs and vice president of academic practices at SSM Health in St. Louis.

Structural biology: James F. Conway has been appointed chair of the Department of Structural Biology, following his service as interim chair since October 2024. Conway is an internationally known expert in cryo-electron microscopy, a method of imaging protein complexes in their native or near-native state for developing molecular and atomic models that represent functionally competent structures. He was recruited to the newly established Department of Structural Biology in the School of Medicine as a visiting associate professor in 2005, appointed associate professor in 2007, and has served as full professor since 2017.