Ian F. Dunn, M.D., is the 24th Executive Dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, where he holds the Lawrence N. Upjohn Chair in Medicine and serves as the Chief Physician Executive of OU Health overseeing the faculty practice of OU Health Physicians.  He is also a tenured Professor and Chair Emeritus in the Department of Neurosurgery.   He joined the OU campus in November 2018 as Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery, a position he held until his appointment as Dean, overseeing significant growth in clinical, research, and educational areas. 

He received his MD from Harvard Medical School followed by his internship and residency in neurosurgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, learning pituitary surgery with Dr. Edward Laws. Dr. Dunn completed his clinical fellowship in Skull Base Neurosurgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences/St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, with Dr. Ossama Al-Mefty.  Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma, he served for 8 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, during which time he built a high-volume, complex cranial and skull base surgical practice in Boston and founded the Center for Skull Base and Pituitary Surgery.  

The central themes of his research are the genomic and immunologic underpinnings of cranial base tumors and technical nuances of skull base and endonasal surgery.  He has authored or co-authored over 280 publications and 45 book chapters and as has presented nationally and internationally concerning his central focus on complex brain tumors at the skull base, including those in the pituitary region.

He is married to his medical school classmate, Carolyn, and together they have 3 wonderful children.