Ralph Snyderman, M.D. is Chancellor Emeritus, James B. Duke Professor of Medicine, and Executive Director of the Center for Personalized Health Care at Duke University. He served as Chancellor for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine at Duke from 1989 to July 2004 and led the transition of this excellent medical center into an internationally recognized leader of academic medicine. He oversaw the development of the Duke University Health System, one of the most successful integrated academic health care systems in the country, and served as its first President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Snyderman has played a leading role in the conception and development of personalized health care, an evolving model of national health care delivery. He has been widely recognized for his contributions to the development of a more rational, effective, and compassionate health care. He was amongst the first to envision and articulate the need to move the current focus of health care from the treatment of disease-events to personalized, proactive, and patient-centered care. The Association of American Medical Colleges has referred to Dr. Snyderman as the “father of personalized medicine.”
Dr. Snyderman has received numerous awards for his contributions to improving health care including, the Precision Medicine World Congress Pioneer Award (2016) for his major contributions to the field of personalized medicine; the David E. Rogers Award (2012) from the Association of American Medical Colleges for his leadership in academic medicine and for the conception of personalized medicine; and, the Leadership in Personalized Medicine Award (2007) from the Personalized Medicine Coalition for his efforts in advancing predictive and targeted therapies on a national scale, and the inaugural Bravewell Leadership Award for outstanding achievements in the field of integrative medicine (2003).
Dr. Snyderman accepted his first faculty appointment at Duke in 1972 and by 1984, he was the Frederic M. Hanes Professor of Medicine and Immunology. His research contributed to the understanding of how white blood cells respond to chemical signals to mediate host defense or tissue damage and he is internationally recognized for his contributions in inflammation research. In 1987, Snyderman left Duke to join Genentech, Inc., the pioneering biomedical technology firm, as Senior Vice President for medical research and development. While at Genentech, he led the development and licensing of several major biotechnology therapeutics.
Dr. Snyderman has played a prominent role in the leadership of such important national organizations as the Association of American Physicians, the National Academy of Medicine, and the Association of American Medical Colleges. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. His bibliography contains nearly 400 manuscripts and numerous books, including A Chancellor’s Tale: Transforming Academic Medicine.