Interim dean takes over at MU School of Medicine

The University of Missouri School of Medicine’s interim dean took over on Monday.

Steven Zweig spoke Monday at the Board of Curators Committee Meeting about what he hopes to bring to the position on his first day in the job following the resignation of Patrick Delafontaine.

Delafontaine resigned to take a position at another university, which was submitted last month. He had unexpectedly resigned back in 2015. After his resignation in 2015, he returned to the job five months later. Delafontaine is taking a position at Tulane University, where he worked before coming to MU.

“When the leadership changes, everybody thinks there is a little bit of chaos, but it turns out, everyone keeps doing their job, and they do their job actually quite well,” Zweig told curators Monday. He said among his first steps will be to ask employees about their priorities for the organization.

Zweig said he wants to look closer into the school’s values and where the money is coming from. “I think we have to take a better look at how we fund the different things we do in the medical school, where that funding is coming from, and how that it is committed to each part of our mission,” he told the curators.

Zweig also said one of his goals is to make sure the school is representing diversity and inclusion, while providing a positive learning environment.

An accrediting organization in 2016 cited the school for issues including a lack of diversity and student mistreatment. The school corrected those items enough to keep its accreditation.