Hugo R. Rosen, MD, has been recruited to serve as the chair of the Department of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, effective May 1.

Rosen joins the Keck School from the University of Colorado, where he has been the head of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology since 2005, according to Interim Dean Laura Mosqueda, MD.

“He has been the architect of a remarkable growth of clinical, research and education missions with the recruitment of over 45 faculty members, establishment of new multidisciplinary programs and transformation into one of the highest-rated divisions in the country,” Mosqueda wrote in a memo announcing the recruitment. “Please join me in enthusiastically welcoming Dr. Rosen and his family to our Trojan Family.”

Rosen, who is the Waterman Endowed Chair in Liver Research and Professor of Medicine, Immunology, and Microbiology at the University of Colorado, said he plans on leveraging USC’s assets to strengthen existing collaborations and foster new opportunities for scientific discovery.

An accomplished translational, clinical and basic science researcher and clinical program-builder, Rosen uses findings gleaned from his laboratory research to help his patients, who further inform his work in the lab. He said he believes that the combination of the Keck School, Keck Medical Center of USC and Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center will move the paradigm not only from bench to bedside, but onward to community and policy.

Asked his thoughts about this new venture, Rosen stated: “I am deeply honored and thrilled to embrace this once-in-a-generation opportunity and the sacred responsibility of leading the outstanding Department of Medicine at USC. I have been very impressed with the entire biomedical enterprise, the commitment to compassionate patient care and the institutional focus on innovation and convergence across multiple disciplines. We are indebted to the pioneering physicians, scientists and others who have contributed major discoveries and made USC a traditional powerhouse, but we cannot rest on their laurels. This is a pivotal juncture to promote the art and science of medicine, in Los Angeles and internationally, by training the next generation of leaders through comprehensive education, career development, transformative research and world-class patient care.”

Rosen is a prolific physician-scientist with more than 180 original peer-reviewed manuscripts investigating the cellular and molecular underpinnings of a wide spectrum of innate and adaptive immune responses and developing novel paradigms in liver diseases. He has been the principal investigator of multiple National Institutes of Health grants, with two active RO1 grants, Center Grants, three T32 training grants and five VA Merit grants. His research also has been honored by the American Society of Clinical Investigation (elected in 2008) and the American Society of Transplantation. He currently serves as deputy editor of the journal Hepatology. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, followed by a fellowship in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology at UCLA.

After his family emigrated from Cuba, Rosen grew up in Miami where he completed his pre-medical studies as a presidential scholar and earned his medical degree. Spanish is his first language.

He and his wife Bonnie, a cardiac nurse, have been married for 25 years. They have three grown children: Rachel, Nicholas and Leah.