University of Florida health affairs vice president accepts leadership posts at Mount Sinai, New York

Dr. Kenneth I. Berns, vice president for health affairs and dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Florida, confirmed today (1/31/02) he has accepted administrative positions with Mount Sinai Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Effective in early April, Berns will assume responsibilities as president and chief executive officer at Mount Sinai Medical Center, CEO at Mount Sinai Hospital (an 1,171-bed facility), and CEO of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

“This is a very interesting challenge and opportunity at this point in my career,” Berns said, in discussing his decision. He also said he plans to reconnect with friends in New York, where he spent 13 years (1984-1997) as chairman of Cornell Medical College’s microbiology department. He left there in 1997 to become dean of the UF College of Medicine.

Berns has served two years as UF’s vice president for health affairs, and previously filled this position on an interim basis for two years. Earlier in his career (1976-1984) he chaired the UF College of Medicine’s department of molecular genetics and microbiology, with an added role as pediatrics professor.

Berns is internationally known among geneticists and microbiologists for his pioneering studies of viruses that could potentially be used to transport genetic material into human cells during gene therapy. Berns, along with UF eminent scholar Dr. Nicholas Muzyczka, modified the adeno-associated virus for use as a gene carrier (vector). Muzyczka and Berns, along with two co-investigators, won a U.S. patent in 1992 for developing the AAV vector, now widely used in experimental gene therapy in animals and in human trials. The safety of AAV as a gene-transport molecule has been demonstrated in pioneering clinical trials for selected patients with cystic fibrosis, conducted in Shands at UF medical center. These clinical trials are still under way.

Still active in genetics research, Berns now directs an investigation of the molecular biology of AAV, funded by the National Institutes of Health. He played a key role in establishing the campuswide UF Genetics Institute and the privately funded Powell Gene Therapy Center.

“Few individuals possess the ability, knowledge and stature of Ken Berns,” UF President Charles Young said. “He is a world-class researcher, an outstanding administrator and a good friend to the University of Florida. We wish him continued success in his new assignment. His arrival at Mount Sinai can only enhance its already stellar reputation.”

During the five years of Berns’ deanship, the UF College of Medicine faculty increased the school’s base of external research funding from $80.7 million to $122.7 million---most of it from the NIH. In 2000, the college’s department of molecular biology and microbiology ranked 13th out of 40 medical school genetics programs for securing $6.6 million in NIH support.

In the same time frame, with advocacy by Berns, full-time directors were recruited for UF’s Genetics Institute, the UF Institute on Aging and the UF Shands Cancer Center. He also supported recent recruitments of national leaders in stem cell research and traumatic brain injury to the Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute of UF. The three institutes and the cancer center are campuswide enterprises, with strong faculty leadership and involvement from the Health Science Center colleges.

Berns has supported major expansion of diabetes research at UF’s College of Medicine, and has recently worked to obtain federal and state funding for an $80 million facility to house most of UF’s genetics, cancer and biotechnology research---enabling these closely related scientific programs to work together and share facilities. A construction management firm, architects and engineers recently have been employed to begin preparations for this building, to be located near the Shands Medical Plaza on Southwest Archer Road, Gainesville.

Berns earned his A.B. with honors in biology, his Ph.D. degree in biology (with emphasis on biochemistry), and his M.D. at Johns Hopkins University. He also completed internship training in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital before launching his career as a staff associate in the NIH Laboratory of Biochemistry and Metabolism. In 1999, he was elected to both the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars and the Johns Hopkins chapter of the national medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha. He also serves on the Johns Hopkins board of trustees.

The recipient of many academic honors, including a 10-year NIH Merit Award (1989-1999), Berns is a leader in national medical organizations. He serves on the National Advisory Research Resources Council of NIH and on the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Microbiological Sciences. During the past decade, he has served as president of the American Society for Microbiology, the American Society for Virology, the Association of Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Chairs, and the Harvey Society of New York, and as chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Berns is one of only two Florida residents elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the NAS Institute of Medicine. He also has chaired the state’s Biomedical Research Advisory Council, and served on Florida’s Community Hospital Education Council and on the Florida Medical Association’s Committee on Medical Schools.