The chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine will become dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in August after more than a decade at GW.

Peter Hotez leaves for Baylor after serving as distinguished research professor and Walter G. Ross Professor of medicine at GW, a position that has garnered him substantial praise from his University colleagues.

“He has become one of the nation’s leading authorities on the development of vaccines to treat people affected by neglected tropical diseases in many of the world’s poorest countries,” Jeffrey Akman, dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said.

Akman attributed the school’s reputation as a leading research institution in the fields of vaccine development and neglected diseases in part to Hotez’s efforts.

Michael Bukrinsky, vice chair of the department, will replace Hotez as interim chair.

Bukrinsky is an internationally recognized expert in the field of HIV/AIDS research and “one of our most distinguished faculty members,” Akman said.

Hotez will begin his deanship at Baylor Aug. 1.