SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Upstate Medical University's new medical school dean is a psychiatrist from Australia who has done extensive research on depression.

Dr. Julio Licinio will take over as medical school dean July 1, the school announced today. He's also been named a senior vice president of Upstate.

Licinio, a native of Brazil with a 30-year career in academic medicine, works at the South Australian Health and Research Institute in Adelaide, where he serves as deputy director of translation strategy and process for the Head, Mind and Brain Theme. He's also a professor at Flinders University in Adelaide.

Dr. Julio Licinio

Licinio has worked at UCLA, the University of Miami, National Australian University, Yale, the VA Medical Center in West Haven, Connecticut and the NIH Clinical Center and the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

His research has examined the link between obesity and depression, and how anti-depressants can cause weight gain.

Licinio earned his medical degree from the University of Bahia School of Medicine in Brazil and completed a residency at the University of Sao Paulo Medical Centre in Brazil.

He completed a fellowship in medicine/endocrinology at the University of Chicago and an internship in psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center.

"His experience as a physician-scientist with a broad international reputation, together with his successful career and critical understanding of administrative leadership, clinical care, research, education and policy will move Upstate forward and broaden our research and academic enterprise," Upstate President Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena said in a prepared statement.

Licinio replaces Dr. David Duggan who stepped down as dean last fall. Dr. Mantosh Dewan, an Upstate psychiatrist, has been serving as interim dean.

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