Dr. Kenneth Shine Appointed Dean of UCLA Medical School

UCLA announced Tuesday that Dr. Kenneth I. Shine, professor and executive chairman of the university’s department of medicine, will succeed Dr. Sherman M. Mellinkoff as dean of the School of Medicine. Mellinkoff will return to teaching after 24 years as head of the medical school.

Shine, 50, is a cardiologist and president-elect of the American Heart Assn. He is scheduled to become dean July 1.

A graduate of Harvard College in 1957 and Harvard Medical School in 1961, Shine served both his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston before going to UCLA in 1969 as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1970, he served as assistant professor of medicine at Harvard and director of cardiovascular training for Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.

He returned to UCLA in 1971, where he moved from an assistant professor of medicine to chief of the division of cardiology in 1975. In 1977, he became a full professor. In 1979, he was appointed vice chair of the department of medicine and in 1981 became its executive chair.

During his tenure at UCLA, he has been awarded the department of medicine’s Teacher of the Year award three times and has written more than 50 research articles.

Shine is the third dean of UCLA’s School of Medicine, which graduated its first class in 1955. Mellinkoff, who succeeded Stafford L. Warren in 1962, is said to have served in his role longer than any other medical school dean in the country.

During Mellinkoff’s tenure, UCLA’s medical school has grown enormously in size and prestige. Currently rated one of the top schools in the country, it has 17 departments and prepares both undergraduate and graduate students for careers in all branches of medicine.