Celebrating Deeb Salem, MD
If you have been part of our hospital family for any length of time, you certainly know Dr. Deeb Salem. For more than four decades, Dr. Salem's incredible talent, leadership and warmth have helped shape the image, the culture and the mission of Tufts Medical Center.
As of February 1, Dr. Salem is stepping down from his role as Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Medicine and Karen Freund, MD, MPH, Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs and Quality Improvement, will become our new Physician-in-Chief, and Tufts University School of Medicine’s Chair of the Department of Medicine. He will begin working with Wellforce to identify greater opportunities for academic collaboration across the system. 
Dr. Salem joined what was then Tufts-New England Medical Center in 1972 as a Clinical Fellow in Cardiology. Over the years, he has held a number of leadership positions. He was appointed Director of the Adult Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory in 1980 and was named Chief of Cardiology in 1987. He was named Physician-in-Chief at Tufts MC and the Sheldon M. Wolff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in 1999. Dr. Freund, Dr. Salem and their predecessor, Dr. Wolff, for whom the TUSM Professorship is named, all share the experience of having been first-generation college and medical students.
As a national leader in cardiology, Dr. Salem is tapped to review medical manuscripts for major journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association and is also Founding President of the New England Affiliate of the American Heart Association. He has been a strong partner with our local Chinatown community, serving as a board member of the Asian American Civic Association and other groups. Dr. Salem has received numerous awards over the course of his career including the American Heart Association Paul Dudley White and Great Communicator Awards, Tufts School of Medicine’s Distinguished Faculty Award, the BU School of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Boston Business Journal Champions of Health Care Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2017 TMC True Blue Mary Jo Brown Award, the Mass Medical Society Award for Excellence in Medical Service, and he was a three-time honoree of the Compassionate Caregiver Award from the Schwartz Center.
Indeed, Dr. Salem has cared for thousands of cardiac patients as if they were family. He is also credited with inspiring multiple generations of medical students. A masterful storyteller, he can weave his past clinical experiences into rich lessons that always leave the listener smarter and usually with a smile.
As SVP of Academic Integration at Wellforce, Dr. Salem will work closely with TUSM Dean Peter Bates, MD; CPE Mike Wagner, MD; and Wellforce hospital CEOs to seek out opportunities for greater academic collaboration, including CME, teaching and mentorship opportunities. He will also support philanthropy initiatives and community relations with our Chinatown neighbors. We are planning a proper send off so we can thank him for his many years of service to the community.
We are so fortunate that Dr. Karen Freund, a greatly admired primary care physician and renowned researcher has agreed to lead the Department of Medicine’s next chapter. Dr. Freund’s career has focused on disease prevention and chronic disease management for under served populations, especially for minority and under-resourced women. She also completed a 17-year study looking at the career trajectory of women in medicine, demonstrating that women lag behind men in compensation, career advancement and leadership, and offering solutions to promote career advancement for women. Read more about her in our press release.
Please join us in congratulating both Dr. Salem and Dr. Freund on their new roles and wishing them continued success.