Des Moines University has appointed Dr. Bret Ripley as dean of the university’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, effective Jan. 1. Ripley, chair of DMU’s Family and Internal Medicine Department since 2013, was named interim dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine following the departure this fall of Dr. Gregory Christiansen, who had joined DMU in December 2016. Ripley also served as interim dean of the college following the resignation of Dr. J.D. Polk in 2015. A former engineer and physicist in the defense industry, Ripley is a 2001 graduate of A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he completed a fellowship in osteopathic manual medicine. He worked in osteopathic education in Virginia and Kentucky before joining DMU.