A day after the UConn Health Center got its first researcher for a new genomic center, UConn President Susan Herbst announced that the school had hired a new leader for the health center and the UConn medical school.

Dr. Frank Torti, a vice president at Wake Forest University who runs the school's cancer biology center, will come to UConn as the eighth dean of the UConn medical school, and the school's vice president for health affairs.

The move comes two weeks after Herbst hired Warde Manuel to run the school's athletic department, and a day after a Maine genetics lab announced it had hired Yijun Ruan as the first researcher for the new genomic center.

Torti, who will also hold a Board of Trustees professorship in the Department of Medicine, will join the health center May 1, UConn announced in a press release.

"Frank Torti is a brilliant researcher, physician, and teacher -- a transformational leader who will make UConn one of the premier institutions of health care in the world," Herbst said in a statement. "It is a new day at UConn. As I have said since my appointment, we have the highest ambitions for excellence, so that we may take our place among the international pantheon of great institutions. Dr. Torti is a superb leader, and I want every citizen of this state to know that their Health Center simply could not be in better hands. With Dr. Torti's guidance, we will find new cures for disease, map the future political economy of health care, and most of all, ensure that every single patient we see receives the best possible care known to contemporary science."

Torti, a New Jersey native who has worked at Wake Forest since 1993, said in a statement that he's "honored to have the opportuinity to lead the UConn Health Center and the School of Medicine."

"Governor Malloy's Bioscience Connecticut program and the state's partnership with Jackson Laboratory are nothing less than transformational. Working together, Connecticut and the University will change the bioscience landscape and grow the region's economy. I look forward to working with everyone to ensure that this outstanding academic medical center reaches its full potential."

It's the second time this month that Herbst has hired a new campus leader.

On. Feb. 13, the school announced it had hired Manuel, the athletic director at the University at Buffalo, to be its new athletic director. He's the first African-American to hold the position, and will lead the athletic department at a time of transition and great uncertainty.

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UConn hires new medical school dean