Dr. Mark Ott talks about how long it will take to open the new school, the ties that took him to Johns Hopkins and Harvard, why a University of Utah graduate is a fit for BYU and God’s role in his life.

There are still a lot of unknowns about BYU’s plans to open a medical school. But no longer among those is who will lead it: Intermountain Health surgeon Mark Ott, who studied at the University of Utah and has worked at Harvard Medical School.

BYU University Communications shared a press release Thursday morning announcing Dr. Mark Ott as inaugural dean of BYU’s future medical school.

The inaugural dean of the BYU Medical School is a University of Utah graduate and surgeon who has worked at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Stanford.

David Moore, the dean of Brigham Young University's law school, was originally listed as a contributor on Project 2025, which has been called Donald Trump's roadmap for a second term. Then, last month,

Brigham Young University has appointed Dustin Matsumori, Intermountain Health’s vice president of corporate development, as managing director of medical school planning for BYU’s new medical school.