Medical dean list down to two

The list of candidates for the position of dean of USF’s College of Medicine was trimmed to two Monday when the only female candidate withdrew her name to accept a job at the University of Texas.

Valerie Parisi, chairwoman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will become dean of the medical school at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston on Oct. 1. Parisi, 52, was a professor at the university’s medical school in Houston from 1984 to 1994.

Parisi could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The remaining candidates include Robert Belsole, the school’s interim dean and Stephen Klasko, dean of the College of Medicine at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

According to USF spokeswoman Michelle Carlyon, USF President Judy Genshaft does not plan on expanding the search, saying there are still two strong candidates to choose from.

Genshaft, who last week pared the list of candidates from six to three, has said she hopes to have a new dean in place before the start of the fall semester. Last week, she told a search committee that she wanted to reach a decision quickly for fear of candidates accepting other job offers.

The dean position became vacant last October when former dean Robert Daugherty was forced to step down after it was discovered that he had asked about 25 employees to contribute a total of at least $2,000 to the U.S. Senate campaign of Johnnie Bird.