Myra Muramoto Named Chair of Family Medicine

(October 2021) Myra Muramoto, MD, MPH, has been named Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, effective Oct. 1, 2021.

Muramoto had been chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where she had been a faculty member since 1990. She joined the Arizona faculty after serving as chief resident and as a research fellow in the college’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. 

Muramoto has dedicated most of her career as an educator and researcher to substance-abuse education and treatment, with a particular focus on alcohol and tobacco use. As an educator, she has helped to develop national and international educational projects to train health care and human service providers in prevention, screening, and treatment of alcohol and tobacco use disorders.

Muramoto has been principal investigator or co-investigator on 48 translational research studies, 30 involving testing of novel pharmacologic, behavioral, and system interventions for tobacco cessation. The majority of her community-engaged tobacco cessation translational research has focused on ethnic/racial minority groups (Spanish-speaking, American Indian, rural African American), low-income populations, and other special populations (rural, adolescents, pregnant women, military, behavioral health disorders, complementary and alternative medicine patients and practitioners, global health).

She is the author of 69 peer-reviewed journal articles, five book chapters, five peer-reviewed published abstracts, and co-author of “Geriatric Nutrition Handbook.” She also has made more than 150 scholarly presentations. She has extensive teaching and mentoring experience, including medical student career-development counseling, research mentoring with post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty.

Under her leadership, the Department of Family and Community Medicine is one of the top-ranked programs in the country, with a reputation for outstanding clinical education and innovative research. The department’s residency training program focuses on underserved and rural populations and offers an integrative medicine track, as well as a global health track for residents who aim to reduce health disparities world worldwide.

“Our clinical practice is the foundation for academic excellence in education, research, and community engagement,” says Muramoto. “I believe that an inclusive, transparent, and team-oriented approach to leadership is essential for an organization to grow, thrive, and excel in its mission.”