Victor J. Dzau, MD, a cardiologist renown for pioneering research in the renin angiotensin system, will assume the position of president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) beginning July 1.

The National Academy of Sciences announced that Dzau will leave Duke University, where he is chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of the Duke University Health System, to succeed Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD. Dzau became chancellor at Duke in 2004.

Dzau has specialized in cardiovascular translational research with a focus on the molecular and genetic drivers behind cardiovascular disease. He has won awards from the American Heart Association and others for investigations in the renin angiotensin system. His work set the foundation for the development of ACE inhibitors as a treatment for hypertension and congestive heart failure. He also has been a leader in gene therapy for vascular disease.

He is a professor of medicine, a professor of pathology and a research professor of global health. He helped establish the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and Duke Institute for Health Innovation.

His previous positions include professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston; chairman of the medicine department and physician-in-chief and director of research at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; and department chair at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.

He was elected into IOM in 1998 and served on several leadership committees. He also chaired the National institutes of Health (NIH) Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee; chaired the Council of Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology of the American Heart Association; and served on the Advisory Council to the Director of NIH.