HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has tapped a veteran kidney disease researcher from Ohio to take over as dean of its struggling medical school.

Dr. Joseph Shapiro, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, will step in as Marshall's medical dean on July 1. The Marshall medical school faces big staffing and curriculum problems identified by its primary accrediting body.

"I'm truly excited and enthralled with the opportunity to lead this terrific medical school into the future," Shapiro told a large audience at Marshall's campus on Tuesday. "We face some challenges, some might say crisis, but out of crisis we're going to find opportunity to serve the population of West Virginia and make this part of the world a better place."

The School of Medicine was placed on probation in June by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education for a lack of diversity, lack of scholarly activity, a poorly integrated curriculum and a breakdown in student advising.

"Our real problem was infrastructure," said Dr. Robert Nerhood, interim dean of the School of Medicine. "We had too few faculty to do too much, and a consequence of that was that some things didn't get done."

The LCME identified 10 areas of concern in a June 15 letter to Marshall University President Stephen Kopp, among them a lack of debt counseling and career advising.

According to the letter, 32 percent of students who graduated in 2010 left the school with debt of more than $200,000.

The school has two years to correct the problems and must tell all new students about the accreditation problems. Marshall appealed the LCME accreditation decision in October, but their request was denied.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has tapped a veteran kidney disease researcher from Ohio to take over as dean of its struggling medical school.

Dr. Joseph Shapiro, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, will step in as Marshall's medical dean on July 1. The Marshall medical school faces big staffing and curriculum problems identified by its primary accrediting body.

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MU names new medical school dean