Lloyd B. Minor, MD

Lloyd B. Minor, MD, is a scientist, surgeon, and academic leader. He is the Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs at Stanford University. Dr. Minor is also a professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and a professor of Bioengineering and of Neurobiology, by courtesy, at Stanford University.

As dean, Dr. Minor plays an integral role in setting the strategic direction for the clinical enterprise of Stanford Medicine, an academic medical center that includes the Stanford School of Medicine and its two health systems, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. He oversees Stanford Medicine’s physicians on the faculty and the enterprise’s growing clinical networks and physician practices. In August 2023, Dr. Minor was appointed as Vice President for Medical Affairs to lead all matters related to health and medicine at Stanford University.

Leading the biomedical revolution

Under Dr. Minor’s leadership, Stanford Medicine is transforming biomedicine and biomedical research through Precision Health – a fundamental shift towards proactive and personalized health care. Dr. Minor’s book "Discovering Precision Health: Predict, Prevent, and Cure to Advance Health and Well-Being" discusses how Stanford Medicine and other health leaders are making biomedical advancements that enhance our capacity to predict and prevent diseases before they strike and, in the event they do, treat and cure complex diseases precisely.

Precision Health serves as a central pillar to Dr. Minor’s vision for the future of life sciences – a transformative era of biomedical innovation that will take place at the intersection of information sciences, technology, and biology and biomedicine–all disciplines in which Stanford has strengths. With a clinical enterprise that matches the scope, depth and quality of its research and educational enterprises, Stanford Medicine has a unique opportunity to lead the advancement of biomedical research, discovery, and innovation in clinical care.

Dr. Minor has long provided significant support for basic science research and for clinical and translational research at Stanford. Through bold initiatives in medical education and increased support for MD and PhD students, Dr. Minor is committed to inspiring and training future leaders. He also has increased student financial aid and expanded faculty leadership opportunities.

Among other accomplishments, Dr. Minor has led the development and implementation of an innovative model for cancer research and patient care delivery at Stanford Medicine. He has also launched an initiative in biomedical data science to harness the power of big data and create a learning health care system. In addition, Stanford Medicine consistently ranks among the top institutions in NIH funding per faculty ratio in the country,

Setting strategic direction

Dr. Minor spearheaded a groundbreaking roadmap launched in 2018, designed to reaffirm Stanford Medicine’s Precision Health vision. Creating the Integrated Strategic Plan (ISP)  aligned Stanford Medicine’s three entities, informed how each entity would develop strategies, and activated high-impact initiatives across Stanford Medicine. In 2023, with the leaders of Stanford Health Care and Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, Dr. Minor launched ISP 2030, an updated integrated strategic plan that serves as Stanford Medicine’s strategic roadmap through the end of the decade. Among its many ambitious goals, the plan is designed to inspire and prepare leaders of science and medicine to meet the evolving challenges and opportunities in biomedicine today and into the future.

Recognizing the growing influence of artificial intelligence on biomedicine and biomedical research, Dr. Minor also launched the Responsible AI for Safe and Equitable Health (RAISE) initiative in 2023; a joint initiative between Stanford Medicine and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) to guide the responsible use of AI across biomedical research, education, and patient care.

Fostering a vibrant community

Dr. Minor is dedicated to cultivating a Stanford Medicine community that encourages individual growth, academic discovery, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Under Dr. Minor’s guidance, Stanford Medicine has consistently recruited faculty, postdocs, students, and staff that bring unique and diverse perspectives to biomedicine, creating an environment of academic inquiry where all are encouraged to contribute to Stanford’s collective progress by pursuing curiosity-driven research and initiatives of potential impact.

Academic and scientific achievements

Before coming to Stanford, Dr. Minor was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University. As provost, Dr. Minor launched many university-wide initiatives, such as the Gateway Sciences Initiative to support pedagogical innovation and the Doctor of Philosophy Board to promote excellence in PhD education. He worked with others around the university and health system to coordinate the Individualized Health Initiative, which aimed to use genetic information to transform health care.

Before he was appointed provost in 2009, Dr. Minor was the Andelot Professor and director (chair) of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and otolaryngologist-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital. During his six-year tenure, he expanded annual research funding by more than half and increased clinical activity by more than 30 percent while strengthening teaching efforts and student training.

With more than 160 published articles and chapters, Dr. Minor is an expert in balance and inner ear disorders. Through neurophysiological investigations of eye movements and neuronal pathways, his work has identified adaptive mechanisms responsible for compensation to vestibular injury in a model system for studies of motor learning (the vestibulo-ocular reflex). The synergies between this basic research and clinical studies have led to improved methods for the diagnosis and treatment of balance disorders. In recognition of his work in refining a treatment for Ménière’s disease, Dr. Minor received the Prosper Ménière Society’s gold medal in 2010.

In the medical community, Dr. Minor is perhaps best known for his discovery of superior canal dehiscence syndrome, a debilitating disorder characterized by sound- or pressure-induced dizziness. In 1998, Dr. Minor and colleagues published a description of the clinical manifestations of the syndrome and related its cause to an opening (dehiscence) in the bone covering the superior canal. He subsequently developed a surgical procedure that corrects the problem and alleviates symptoms.

Dr. Minor received his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Brown University. He trained at Duke University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center and completed a research fellowship at the University of Chicago and a clinical fellowship at The Otology Group and The EAR Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 2012, Dr. Minor was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.