Susan Pollart, MD, MS, FAAFP, is the senior associate dean for faculty affairs and faculty development at UVA School of Medicine. She is also Walter M. Seward Professor of Family Medicine and interim chair of the department.

The second of five children, Dr. Pollart has long been fascinated by other people’s stories, and chose family medicine as a career when it was in its first decade as a specialty. She still loves it and is gratified that there is increasing recognition of the key role that family physicians can play in the health of our country.

Dr. Pollart received her undergraduate education in West Virginia, her family’s home during her teen years. She came to UVA in 1978 to attend medical school and has been in Charlottesville ever since. She completed residency at UVA in 1985, serving as chief resident her last year, and then went on to do three years of clinical and bench research in allergic diseases as part of a Public Health Service payback.

In 1988, she joined the faculty with a joint appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and the Division of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Medicine. In the years since, she has enjoyed participating in research related to risk factors for asthma, teaching medical students and residents, developing and directing a scholarship program for students bound for a career in generalist medicine and providing the full range of patient care in family medicine, including obstetrics.

In 2014, Dr. Pollart was appointed head of the newly created Office of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development at the School of Medicine. In her role as senior associate dean, Dr. Pollart is involved in all aspects of faculty life from recruitment to retirement. Her primary focus is the professional development and active engagement of faculty, particularly those faculty traditionally underrepresented in medicine.

She continues to spend about a quarter of her time as a family physician, and often thinks of her dean role as a natural extension of her career as family doctor. In both roles, she takes great pleasure in helping those that she serves reach their personal and professional goals.

• 2015-2018 Best Doctors in America® List