Shellhaas named associate dean for faculty promotions, career development
New position aims to boost efforts toward innovative career development
University of Michigan Department of PediatricsRenée Shellhaas, MD, will join Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in October as associate dean for faculty promotions and career development. Shellhaas, whose research focus is neonatal neurology, also will join the Department of Neurology as a professor.
Renée Shellhaas, MD, has been named associate dean for faculty promotions and career development at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She comes to the school from the University of Michigan, where she is an associate chair for career development and a pediatric neurologist. She begins her new role in October.
Shellhaas also will be installed as the David T. Blasingame Professor and will join the neurology department as a professor.
In this position, Shellhaas will work with the School of Medicine’s leadership team to develop innovative institutional programming aimed at improving faculty career development, including the promotion and tenure process and other ways to provide support to faculty. Additionally, she will explore new ways to bring coaching, management and leadership training programs to the school’s departments, institutes and divisions.
“Dr. Shellhaas was selected from a national search of very talented candidates and was unanimously endorsed by the Executive Faculty to elevate us into national leadership in innovative strategies for promoting a full and diverse spectrum of faculty careers,” said David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor. “This is an area of extraordinary importance to our school as we aspire to be an ever more appealing home for researchers, clinicians, educators and entrepreneurs seeking a career and life balance that is fulfilling with deep purpose and inspiration. Renée’s background as a clinician, educator and researcher provides the breadth of experience to draw upon as we pursue these goals.”
Shellhaas’ research focus is neonatal neurology and early-life epilepsy, including approaches to seizure detection, improved treatment paradigms and prediction of long-term outcomes for affected infants. She is also a leader in studies of sleep and sleep-disordered breathing and their impact on neurodevelopment in high-risk newborns, for which she was awarded the Sleep Science Award by the American Academy of Neurology.
She has published extensively and is a principal investigator for two active R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is associate editor of the journal Neurology, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Child Neurology, Pediatric Neurology, and Annals of the Child Neurology Society. Earlier this summer, she was appointed president-elect of the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation.
In addition to her many leadership roles at the University of Michigan and in multiple professional organizations, Shellhaas has been elected a member of the American Pediatric Society and Society for Pediatric Research, and a fellow of the American Epilepsy Society. Further, she has a strong track record of mentoring and teaching; she received the inaugural Chair’s Award for Outstanding Mentorship from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan.
Shellhaas is a graduate of Middlebury College and the University of Michigan Medical School. She trained in pediatrics, neurology/child neurology, and clinical neurophysiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty at Michigan in 2007, and was promoted to professor in 2019 and into career development leadership in 2020. She also completed a master’s degree in clinical research design and statistical analysis at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health in 2009.
