Appointment of Christina Runge, PhD, as vice dean for faculty affairs, advancement, and inclusion

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Christina Runge, PhD, as vice dean for faculty affairs, advancement, and inclusion for the Keck School of Medicine, effective September 9, 2024.  Dr. Runge will have oversight and responsibility for optimizing innovative and inclusive policies, processes, and programs to support the full professional life of our diverse faculty, including recruitment and hiring, academic promotion and appointment, professional development, recognition, and mentorship and sponsorship.  Dr. Runge will serve as the Dean’s Office liaison with the Keck School Faculty Council.

Additionally, Dr. Runge will have oversight and responsibility for School-wide policies, processes, and programs for supporting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) and well-being for Keck School faculty and staff. In this role, she will work in collaboration with Cindy A. Crusto, PhD, senior associate dean for program development, effectiveness, and evaluation, and the Keck School’s Human Resources.

Currently, Dr. Runge serves as professor of otolaryngology and communication sciences, senior associate dean for faculty affairs, and associate provost for faculty affairs at the Medical College of Wisconsin. During her eight years in faculty affairs leadership roles at MCW, Dr. Runge implemented notable innovations such as leading the initiative to achieve American Medical Association’s Joy in Medicine well-being recognition jointly for MCW, Froedtert Health and Children’s Wisconsin. She also facilitated the initiation of the Center for the Advancement of Women in Science in Medicine (AWSM), including the Women’s Full Professor Recognition program, prior to AWSM’s official launch in 2018. Additionally, Dr. Runge most recently led the faculty review process to modernize appointment, promotion, and tenure at MCW, and oversaw the creation and implementation of Academic Ascent, an internal electronic faculty information system designed to increase and efficiency and transparency of the Office of Faculty Affairs’ core functions.

Nationally recognized for excellence in both faculty affairs leadership and otolaryngology research, Dr. Runge is an elected Scientific Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, an elected a member of the American Otological Society and the American Neurotology Society, and served for over a decade on the Board of Directors of HEAR Wisconsin. She has served as primary representative to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Faculty Affairs, and served on multiple committees including chair of the Professional Development Subcommittee; and from 2018-2021, she served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Group on Faculty Affairs.

Dr. Runge’s research has been nearly continuously funded for 20 years from NIH, industry, and foundations. She is currently the MCW Site Principal Investigator for a multi-institutional phase I/2 pediatric clinical trial for inner ear gene therapy, and her laboratory is exploring the use of nanoparticle drug delivery to the inner ear to prevent ototoxic hearing loss. As an educator, she has mentored dozens of medical students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, medical residents, and undergraduates.

Dr. Runge holds a BA, MS, and PhD from the University of Iowa. She completed an audiology fellowship at the Iowa City Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center and a postdoctoral fellowship at MCW.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Runge to the Keck School.  I look forward to her experience and leadership guiding our exciting future of growth and impact.

On behalf of the Keck School of Medicine, I share my deepest gratitude for Dr. Judy Garner and her dedicated service as Interim Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs.

Carolyn C. Meltzer
Dean, Keck School of Medicine of USC