The recently established Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena has tapped a Harvard University Medical School associate dean as its next dean and chief executive.

John Dalrymple, who currently serves as the senior associate dean for medical education at Harvard, will assume his posts at the Kaiser medical school on July 1. He replaces Mark Schuster, the founding dean, who had pledged to see through the first graduating class at the medical school before stepping down; that first class graduates this week.

The Kaiser Permanente medical school is one of the most recent to be established in the country. Perhaps fitting for a medical school, it opened in July 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, the nation’s most severe health crisis in more than a century. In the ensuing months, thousands of doctors left the profession after facing prolonged tours of duty on the front lines of the pandemic.

A total of 187 students are enrolled at the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. Among local medical schools, that’s a relatively small number. The Keck School of Medicine at USC had a student enrollment of about 700 for the 2022-23 academic year, while the Charles Drew University School of Medicine in Willowbrook had about 900 students enrolled for the same year.

Dalrymple said he welcomed the timing of his appointment.

“What an exciting time to be joining the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, after the inaugural class graduates and the school looks to the future,” he said. “I am eager to join such a dedicated and diverse faculty, staff, and student body who will continue to shape the future of medicine and medical education and will ultimately impact the health and well-being of communities far and wide.”