Dr. Nancy C. Andrews, dean for basic sciences and graduate studies at Harvard Medical School (HMS), will become the first female dean of Duke University’s medical school, Duke announced Monday.

She will be the only woman leader at the nation’s top 10 medical schools once Barbara J. McNeil finishes her term as interim dean of HMS on Saturday.

Duke has previously had a female president—Harvard Corporation member Nannerl O. Keohane—and some of its schools have been led by women, but Andrews’ appointment to the top post at its School of Medicine is a first for the university.

Andrews wrote in an e-mail that she has been offered deanships at other medical schools but considered Duke’s offer above the others.

“I was particularly impressed by the fact that Duke is already doing the kinds of things that other major medical schools are talking about doing—for example, promoting interdisciplinary collaborations, strengthening clinical research, connecting science and policy, linking basic and clinical sciences,” she wrote.

In addition, Andrews wrote that she found Duke more open to new initiatives and projects than Harvard.

“There is an academic agility that we don't have at Harvard—perhaps because Harvard is so old, perhaps because Harvard is so big, perhaps because there are too many stakeholders with conflicting interests at Harvard,” she wrote.

According to Duke’s incumbent dean, R. Sanders “Sandy” Williams, the appointment of a woman to the post is “a wave that's been waiting to break for some time.”

“When I started medical school in 1970, less than 20% of my class were women. Now at Duke and at most other medical schools, women have been 50% of medical classes for 10-15 years,” Williams said. “It's taken a while for gender bias to fade out and for this infusion of women into the medical system to mature to the point that they have all of the accomplishments and background one would want for these top jobs.”

Dr. Victor J. Dzau, who is chancellor for health affairs at Duke and was part of the search team, called Andrews a “nurturing figure” who will serve as an example for the medical students at Duke, particularly women and minorities.

“Many female students, physicians and scientists are concerned of the challenges in career work-personal life balance,” Dzau said. “Nancy has shown that it can be done and she has done it superbly.”

Williams also said that Andrews stood out because of her work at HMS. “Her colleagues [at HMS] all described her in superlative terms,” he said.

As a vice dean at HMS, Andrews has worked to increase funding for collaboration between Harvard faculties, establish reviews of HMS’ basic sciences departments, and introduce new courses and programs within the school.

Andrews will take office at Duke on October 1, and said she has a busy schedule for her first months in the post.

“We're going to be building at least 3 new educational and research buildings in the short term, with potential for more later as needed for new programmatic initiatives,” she wrote.

Andrews has an MD from Harvard Medical School and a doctorate from MIT. She joined the Harvard faculty in 1993 and is currently the Minot Professor of Pediatrics.