Experienced clinician-scientist, and medical school dean, will lead world's preeminent diabetes research and clinical care organization

BOSTON – (September 15, 2015) – Joslin Diabetes Center, the world’s preeminent diabetes care and research center, has appointed Peter S. Amenta, M.D., Ph.D., a well-known clinician and scientist with extensive healthcare leadership experience, as President and Chief Executive Officer effective October 5th. 

Dr. Amenta has held numerous leadership roles at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) and University Hospital in New Jersey, where he was dean of the medical school and is the former CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Group. Dr. Amenta brings a wealth of administrative knowledge in medical education, clinical management, and research development settings to Joslin.

"Dr. Peter Amenta is a rare hybrid and exactly what Joslin needs at this time,” said Joslin Board Chairman Ralph James. “As an independent institution focused on diabetes care and research toward a cure - to secure a leader with the ideal blend of medical school and hospital administrative experience, coupled with being a clinician and scientist is a dream combination and leaves Joslin poised to move its mission, of creating a world free of diabetes and its complications, forward."
 
 Dr. Amenta served as the dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for nearly eight years and has been on the faculty there since 1989. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is among the nation’s leading medical schools with 2800 faculty members and 1500 students. It has 34 hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites, 22 basic science and clinical departments, and a Stem Cell Research Institute. Dr. Amenta is an expert anatomic pathologist, electron microscopist and immunohistochemist. He has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as well as chapters and abstracts; he served on the Editorial Board of Human Pathology and as an invited reviewer for many other journals. He co-edited the textbook Histology-From Normal Microanatomy to Pathology. Dr. Amenta has been affiliated with Joslin for 5 years and was on the board of trustees, until the beginning of this year, when he left that role to take on a consultant role as an advisor. He will fill the position vacated by John L. Brooks, III, who resigned as Joslin's President and CEO earlier this month.

 “I am fabulously excited; this is a unique opportunity in someone’s career to lead a place of Joslin’s caliber,“ said Dr. Peter Amenta, incoming President & CEO, Joslin Diabetes Center. “Our vision for Joslin’s future is strong; we all want to cure diabetes and as Joslin’s leadership we need to make sure we have the financial capability and systems in place to go forward to accomplish this. We will be a highly effective and efficient organization, well positioned to continue making advancements in research and clinical care.”

During his tenure as dean, the RWJMS restructured and modernized the entire clinical practice, restructuring the basic science departmental organization to enhance scientific alignment, establishing a state-of-the-art Electronic Health Record, recruiting key faculty to signature clinical and research areas, modernizing its medical school curriculum, signing key new affiliation agreements with partner hospitals and much more.

Dr. Amenta holds a BS from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and received his medical degree at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, Pa., where he also obtained his doctorate in Anatomy.
Dr. Amenta grew up in Cromwell, Connecticut and will be moving to the Boston area from West Windsor NJ with his wife Edna. Their son Peter is a Neurosurgeon at Tulane Medical Center and live in New Orleans, LA with his wife Dr. Christen Amenta and their son Sebastian; their daughter Katherine is the morning news anchor at the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh, PA. 

Joslin Diabetes Center has 300 scientists working toward a cure. Each year more than 150 clinical trials and human subject studies are conducted at Joslin; and 21,000 adult and pediatric patients visits the Joslin Clinic for appointments. Joslin has received National Institute of Health (NIH) funding of $18M every year since 2012.

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