Clifford Brubaker to End 25-Year Tenure as Dean of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Issue Date: 
April 13, 2015

Clifford E. Brubaker, who has served as professor and dean of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences for nearly 25 years, will step down from the deanship on July 1.

Clifford E. BrubakerBrubaker joined the University of Pittsburgh in 1991 when the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences was Pitt’s newest and smallest school. During his tenure, the school’s enrollment has grown from 300 to 1,467 students, and its externally funded research has surged from $200,000 to more than $23.3 million. Brubaker, through his early establishment of the Center for Assistive Technology and a rehabilitation-engineering research program as well as other initiatives, succeeded in making Pitt a forerunner in the nascent field of rehabilitation science. 

“Throughout his long tenure, Dean Brubaker has dedicated himself to the attainment of excellence in every aspect of SHRS’s development. He has guided the constant growth of SHRS’s academic and research programs, both in number and quality, with remarkable managerial skill and vision. The more than 100-fold growth in research productivity during Dr. Brubaker’s tenure is almost beyond belief,” said Arthur S. Levine, Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of Medicine. 

Brubaker, a Distinguished Service Professor of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, also holds appointments in Pitt’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Department of Neurological Surgery, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Levine has named as interim dean Anthony Delitto, professor and chair, Department of Physical Therapy, and associate dean for research in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.