Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., a nationally renowned neurointerventional radiologist and clinical educator, will join Georgetown University July 1 to serve as the new executive vice president for health sciences at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and executive dean of Georgetown University School of Medicine, university President John J. DeGioia (CAS ’79, GRD ’95) announced in an April 16 press release. 

A graduate of Michigan State University (MSU), where he received his doctor of medicine, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he completed his residency and fellowship, Beauchamp has served as MSU’s executive vice president for health science since 2019. During his time at Johns Hopkins, Beauchamp developed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that allowed more patients to receive timely stroke treatment and helped run a prominent study that discovered novel predictors of stroke and heart disease. 

At GUMC, Beauchamp will be responsible for upholding the school’s mission of teaching, patient care and research and will work closely with MedStar Health, Georgetown’s academic health system partner.

Dr. Edward B. Healton, the current executive vice president of health sciences and executive dean of the Georgetown School of Medicine who will step down at the end of the academic year, said that Beauchamp’s experience as both a doctor and an administrator makes him an ideal fit for his new role at Georgetown.

“He is a proven leader in academia and brings with him an outstanding track record of advancing health sciences for the community’s betterment,” Healton wrote to The Hoya. “That partnered with his innovative and entrepreneurial spirit will lift and amplify the outstanding work of our health care professionals, our researchers and our educators.”

DeGioia said Beauchamp’s wealth of leadership experience will enable Georgetown to progress in the health field.

“As we strengthen our medical center and deepen our University-wide commitment to health, I am excited and honored to welcome Dr. Beauchamp as the next leader of our GUMC,” DeGioia wrote in the press release. “He brings tremendous leadership and energy and has demonstrated a deep dedication to our vision for the future of health sciences at Georgetown and the mission of our University.”

As GUMC executive dean, Beauchamp said he plans to advocate for increased access to higher education opportunities. 

“I want the students to know that I see education as one of the greatest ways to have an impact,” Beauchamp said in the press release. “Preparing them to be the people of impact that attracted them to Georgetown enables health and healing, hope that echoes through the generations.” 

After completing his residency and two fellowships in neuroradiology and neuro-interventional radiology at Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins appointed Beauchamp as its vice chair of clinical operations in 1999. Beauchamp then became chairman of the department of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine before returning to MSU in 2016 to serve as the dean of the MSU College of Human Medicine. 

At MSU, Beauchamp also served as associate provost and assistant vice president for health affairs.

Throughout his career, Beauchamp has been involved in many initiatives to reduce health disparities — preventable differences in health outcomes due to broader social and economic inequities — promote research opportunities and increase access to education. At MSU, he helped spearhead an initiative to create a new research center focused on mitigating health disparities and developing affordable housing solutions for low-income communities. 

Roberta Waite, dean of the Georgetown University School of Nursing, said Beauchamp’s work to reduce inequity in patient care will serve as an important foundation for future partnerships at Georgetown.

“Dr. Beauchamp’s commitment to the responsibility we share as an institution of higher education to help alleviate the burden of health disparities will reinforce our work together as we continue to build community engagement,” Waite wrote to The Hoya.

The search committee for this position brought together representatives from the School of Health, School of Nursing, GUSOM, MedStar Health and Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, the partner institutions of GUMC. 

Search committee chair Lucile Adams-Campbell, a distinguished university professor of oncology, senior associate dean for community outreach and engagement at GUMC and associate director of minority health and health disparities research at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center said the search committee allowed many faculty members to share their opinions during the process.

“It was a privilege to lead the search committee appointed by President DeGioia, which was comprised of 22 people (including myself) to ensure representation of our faculty strengths and disciplines from across the Medical Center,” Adams-Campbell wrote to The Hoya. 

Apart from his belief in the value of education, Beauchamp said he strives to uphold the values of service and compassion that his mother and his Catholic faith instilled in him. 

“I applied to this role embracing the responsibility that Georgetown and its academic health system partner MedStar Health are relied on by so many and that joining the leadership team comes with the blessing and the accountability to so many,” Beauchamp wrote in the press release.