The Consequences of Ranking 3

The Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California has appointed a new Dean. What are his qualifications? What is he going to do?

Get the school a better place in the rankings. What else does the Dean of a medical School do?

Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, the current chair of the University of Miami's Department of Ophthalmology, will replace Dr. Brian Henderson, whose three-year contract as interim dean of Keck expired this year.

University officials said they expect the new dean's leadership to help vault Keck into a higher ranking among medical schools.

"Clearly, what we aim for with Dr. Puliafito's leadership is to move up the Keck School of Medicine in the rankings," said Provost C.L. Max Nikias, who chaired the faculty search advisory committee that selected Puliafito. "We want it to be up there in the very top tier of medical schools in the country."