La Jolla

Dr. Ruben F. Gittes of Harvard Medical School has been named chairman of the surgery department at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, it was announced Monday.

Gittes, the Elliott C. Cutler Professor of Urological Surgery at Harvard and the chief urologist at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, served as head of the urology division at UC San Diego Medical School from 1969 to 1975 before joining the Harvard faculty. Gittes will assume his new post in June, after the retirement of Dr. Melvin A. Block.

The 52-year-old Gittes will be responsible for the administration of the surgical department and for the overall quality of surgery performed at Scripps, Charles C. Edwards, president of the Scripps Clinic foundation, said Monday.