Search for Med School Dean Narrows

Prominent cardiologist Elizabeth G. Nabel, reportedly a finalist for the deanship of Harvard Medical School (HMS), was scheduled to visit Harvard’s campus today for what appeared to be a series of meetings related to her candidacy for one of Harvard’s most powerful posts.

Nabel, a resident of Bethesda, Md. who leads the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and Reisman Professor of Medicine Jeffrey S. Flier are said to be on the top of President-elect Drew G. Faust’s list of potential replacements for HMS dean Joseph B. Martin, The Boston Globe first reported yesterday.

Martin will step down on June 30.

Reached at her room in the Charles Hotel late last night, Nabel, who trained at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, declined to comment on her under-the-radar visit to Cambridge.

Nabel is set to leave campus late this afternoon.

If named dean, Nabel will be the first woman to lead the Medical School in the institution’s 225-year history.

Flier currently serves as the chief academic officer at the Harvard-affliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he conducts research focused on obsesity and diabetes. A spokesman for Flier declined to comment on his candidacy.

University spokesman John D. Longbrake said he could not comment on the ongoing dean search in accordance with university policy.

Earlier this year, a group of Harvard faculty, drawn mostly from the medical school, was formed to narrow down a list of hundreds candidates who were proposed for the post.

The committee has met with both Bok and Faust to discuss candidates.

“It’s fair to say that whenever Harvard searches for a dean, a wide net is cast,” advisory committee member James H. Thrall said in an interview in April. “We have had at least 300 names recommended to the committee.”

After a decade-long tenure, Martin announced his plans to resign from the post effective this July.

“It would be terrific to have a new dean by then to promote continuity,” said Thrall, who is the Taveras Professor of Radiology, at the time. “Meeting such a deadline will be a challenge.”

The dean of Harvard Medical School oversees 11,000 faculty members at the school and 18 affliated institutions, which combined received over one billion dollars in federal funding for research last year.

—Claire M. Guehenno contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Jamison A. Hill can be reached at jahill@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.