By Christina Rogers, The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech and the Carilion Clinic named the former dean of a North Carolina medical school to lead the development of their proposed medical campus in Roanoke.

Dr. Cynda Johnson, 56, who is now senior associate vice chancellor for clinical and translational research at East Carolina University, will start her new role as founding dean of the clinic and university's joint college of medicine in January. The medical school is planning its first class for 2010.

Johnson comes to Roanoke with 27 years of academic experience in the medical field, including a three-year stint as dean of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, an institution that U.S. News & World Report ranked sixth this year out of 50 top medical schools that emphasize primary care.

In that role, Johnson said she supervised a faculty of 400 and a per-year average class size of 72 students. The planned medical school in Roanoke will have a starting class of about 40.

"It is wonderful to be involved with a school from the beginning," Johnson said in a telephone interview Monday.

Among her first challenges, she said, will be focusing on the school's application for national accreditation.

She will also begin assembling the school's staff and faculty, some of whom will come from Virginia Tech, she said. An initial budget for the school has yet to be set.

Carilion and Virginia Tech are seeking about $58.5 million in funding from the state for a medical school building to be located on South Jefferson Street in the business park now under development. The site is near Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Johnson declined to discuss her salary.