News Feature

The distinguished year-long program will host six fellows from universities nationwide

The AAMC Council of Deans (COD) has selected Patricia J. Sime, M.D., FRCP, FACP, ATSF, chair of VCU’s Department of Internal Medicine, as a fellow for the prestigious 2026-2027 COD Fellowship Program. Dr. Sime is one of only six fellows chosen nationally for this year's cohort, which is dedicated to enhancing the development of future executive leaders in academic medicine.  The Council of Deans connects leaders of AAMC member medical schools across the United States and Canada to address the evolving challenges facing academic medicine. Together, they develop strategies to achieve excellence in medical education, pioneering research, and patient care.

Cultivating Future Leaders in Academic Medicine

According to the AAMC, the COD Fellowship is uniquely designed for exceptional senior faculty members, including department chairs and assistant or associate deans, who demonstrate the potential and desire to transition into deanships and other top-tier leadership roles. The program highly values diversity in leadership, selecting applicants from a broad range of clinical skills, academic disciplines, institution types, and geographic locations.

As part of the intensive year-long program, fellows will:

• Engage in direct, one-on-one mentoring with multiple medical school deans
• Participate in targeted executive development seminars and national COD meetings
• Design and complete a comprehensive leadership project aimed at institutional professional development

“I am honored and delighted to have this opportunity to learn from leaders in academic medicine and to continue to build on our incredible missions for future generations to come,” Sime said. “The ability to collaborate with a peer group of fellows who are invested in advancing academic medicine at this critical time of change is also very exciting.”

A Legacy of Excellence at VCU and Beyond

A renowned pulmonologist, Sime was named VCU’s Chair of Internal Medicine and the William Branch Porter Professor of Medicine in 2019. Over the last seven years, her transformative leadership has profoundly shaped the department's trajectory across its core missions:

• Clinical & Educational Growth: She has successfully expanded educational programs across 11 divisions, partnered with key VCU and Health System centers, and fostered the development of numerous clinical centers of excellence recognized both nationally and internationally.
• Research & Pandemic Leadership: Dr. Sime helped guide VCU and VCU Health through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently, she has drastically increased clinical and translational research funding, securing vital grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), industry, private foundations, and philanthropic partners. Her own active research continues to identify pathogenetic mechanisms and discover new therapeutic targets for devastating inflammatory and fibrotic lung diseases. Sime’s research was recently highlighted by VCU in the series Uncommon Heroes: She breathes life into the fight against pulmonary fibrosis.

Throughout her distinguished career, Sime has published more than 190 peer-reviewed manuscripts, contributed to numerous medical textbooks, and secured several patents for her pioneering discoveries in lung disease. She has served in a variety of high-level leadership roles for professional societies, including the American Thoracic Society, and routinely serves as an advisor and reviewer for the NIH and prominent journal editorial boards.

Additionally, she is the recipient of numerous local, national, and international awards celebrating her research breakthroughs, institutional citizenship, and deep commitment to mentoring the next generation of physicians. 

Prior to her recruitment to VCU, Sime built a robust reputation as a physician, educator, and researcher and leader at the University of Rochester. She earned her medical degree, with honors, from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.