The search for a new dean of the School of Public Health has begun.

In an email to the School of Public Health, Salovey said that after 9 years of service, Cleary will step down from his position as dean as soon as a successor is appointed or by June 30, 2016, which is when his term will expire. Cleary, who will remain at the school as director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS and a professor in the Health Policy and Management Department, led the school through nearly a decade of national and international recognition.

During Cleary’s tenure, the doctoral program at the School of Public Health was ranked in the top three in the country, and the school was ranked in the top 10 best universities in the world for public health and social sciences by the the U.S. News & World Report. The school has also seen a substantial growth in its endowment.

“Our recent achievements would not have been possible without [Cleary’s] help and support, and for those I am deeply grateful,” Salovey wrote in the email to the School of Public Health.

Cleary began his career at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees before teaching there. He moved to Rutgers and then to Harvard Medical School, serving as a professor of medical sociology in the Departments of Health Care Policy and Social Medicine. Cleary came to Yale in 2006.

Cleary’s research is focused on HIV. As a health care sociologist, Cleary has investigated the effect HIV has on people’s lives and the determinants of the quality of medical care such individuals receive. Cleary has also examined the ways patient reports about their care and health status can improve the quality of medical care they received.

In addition to being the Dean of the School of Public Health, Cleary has affiliations with the Department of Sociology and the Institute for Social and Policy Studies. Beyond Yale, Cleary is part of the Institute of Medicine and the Connecticut Academy for Science and Engineering. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Throughout his career Cleary has received numerous accolades. He won the A. Clifford Barger Award for Excellence in Mentoring at Harvard Medical School and was selected as a distinguished fellow of the Association for Health Services Research in 1996.

In 2002, the Academy of Health Services Research and Health Policy presented Cleary with the Distinguished Investigator Award. Most recently, Cleary won the Picker Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care. The Picker Institute presented him with this award in 2010.