SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The SUNY board of trustees has appointed Dr. Mantosh Dewan as interim president of Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.
His appointment is effective Dec. 23 and he will serve until a permanent president is selected, SUNY said in a news release.
He will take over for Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena, who announced in late September that she would step down on Dec. 22.
The announcement of Laraque-Arena’s decision happened weeks after the Albany Times-Union reported that the Onondaga County District Attorney’s office had started a grand-jury probe of Upstate Medical University that’s focused on “hiring decisions, severance packages, and construction projects,” according to a Sept. 7 article on the Times-Union website.
About Dewan
Dr. Dewan is a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the school’s department of psychiatry. He is former chair of the department and has also served as director of undergraduate education and director of residency training. He had previously served as interim dean of the Upstate Medical’s College of Medicine between 2016 and 2017, SUNY said.
Dewan started at Upstate Medical as an assistant professor of psychiatry in 1979.
He has written 35 books and book chapters and 75 papers, along with “hundreds” of presentations on topics that range from brain imaging and economics of mental health care to psychotherapy and medical education, per the release.
His work has been funded by grants from the Bethesda, Maryland–based National Institute of Mental Health and the Rockville, Maryland–based Health Resources and Services Administration.
Dr. Dewan also has an active clinical practice. He holds a doctor of medicine from Bombay University (currently Mumbai University) in India. Dewan conducted his residency at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, SUNY said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
