Emory University School of Medicine Dean Vikas Sukhatme, who is besides the main world serviceman of Emory Healthcare, announced connected Nov. 22 that helium volition beryllium stepping down from his roles successful March 2023. He held some positions for 5 years.
Sukhatme volition stay successful the School of Medicine assemblage arsenic a full-time module member. He volition proceed starring the Morningside Center for Innovative and Affordable Medicine, which Sukhatme co-founded with his wife, Vidula Sukhatme, to promote research, acquisition and advocacy for affordable aesculapian treatments with a absorption connected repurposed drugs. Additionally, Sukhatme volition thatch and lend to the “Clinics of the Future” initiative, which is inactive successful its aboriginal stages.
“Though it has been a chiseled grant and a privilege to service arsenic dean of our School of Medicine, it is simply a 24/7 occupation and the past fewer years person been peculiarly busy,” Sukhatme wrote successful an email to the Wheel. “I made the determination to measurement down due to the fact that I desired to walk much clip with household and to prosecute activities that could rapidly effect successful novel, affordable and scalable aesculapian treatments successful the adjacent future. Both the Morningside Center and the Clinics of the Future inaugural purpose to bash that.”
Emory University School of Medicine Dean Vikas Sukhatme volition beryllium stepping down from his roles successful March 2023. Courtesy of Emory University
He wrote successful a connection to the School of Medicine community that helium has “tremendous confidence” successful the existent leadership, including University President Gregory Fenves, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ravi Bellamkonda, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs David Stephens and incoming Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Ravi Thadhani.
Emory volition denote the adjacent steps for enactment astatine the School of Medicine successful the coming weeks. Thadhani, who volition presume his presumption astatine Emory connected Jan. 1, 2023, volition consult connected the plans.
Sukhatme’s announcement follows a wave of administrative shifts passim the past semester. Three retired of 4 of Emory’s undergraduate schools — Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Oxford College and Goizueta Business School — were led by caller deans this year, though Emory College and Oxford are inactive searching for imperishable replacements. The Rollins schoolhouse of Public Health besides has a caller dean.
Before coming to Emory successful November 2017, Sukhatme worked astatine Harvard University (Mass.), wherever helium served arsenic main world serviceman and Harvard module dean for world programs astatine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center successful Boston. He noted successful the property merchandise that helium was inspired to articulation Emory due to the fact that of the University’s pioneering enactment successful medicine.
“I believed — and inactive judge — that Emory has the close premix of module excellence, collaborative tone and strategical partnerships to tackle immoderate of the astir intractable problems successful medicine with a decent changeable astatine success,” Sukhatme wrote.
The School of Medicine is the largest of 9 schools astatine Emory, according to the property release. Sukhatme oversaw more than 3,300 afloat and part-time module and astir 2,500 unit members. The schoolhouse has implicit 1,000 students.
During his tenure arsenic dean, Sukhatme focused connected improving wellness outcomes crossed the globe by removing barriers to aesculapian innovation and processing caller methods for integrating probe into acquisition and diligent care.
University President Gregory Fenves called Sukhatme a “transformational” person successful the aesculapian school.
“He acceptable ambitious goals — successful training, module recruitment and probe to dainty and cure diseases — and exceeded them,” Fenves wrote successful the property release. “I americium grateful for the dedication helium showed implicit the past 5 years. He elevated the School of Medicine and acceptable it connected a way for continued success.”
Sukhatme led the improvement of the School of Medicine’s Excellence to Eminence strategical plan, which has included hiring implicit 90 module who are “game changers” successful biomedical science. He besides worked to amended existent faculty’s probe done the Imagine, Innovate, Impact awards, which provides grants for proposals “with the imaginable to marque a transformational interaction successful either cardinal biomedical cognition oregon translational impact.” These effect grants garnered a instrumentality connected concern of much than 6:1.
Stephens and different wellness subject leaders worked alongside Sukhatme to pb the operation and programming of the Health Sciences Research Building II. The task volition beryllium Emory’s largest probe gathering and is expected to unfastened successful outpouring 2023.
Sukhatme besides prioritized diverseness passim his deanship. According to the property release, 30% of Emory aesculapian students place arsenic historically underrepresented successful medicine. In 2019, underrepresented minorities made up 24% of the M.D. class, jumping to 33.8% by 2022.
The School of Medicine besides launched its archetypal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategical plan. Sukhatme noted that helium is “thrilled” with the aesculapian school’s progress.
“The satellite we’re surviving successful contiguous is becoming much and much fractured, but medicine has an unthinkable powerfulness to heal and to link — crossed race, crossed spiritual beliefs, crossed everything,” Sukhatme said.
The 2nd fractional of Sukhatme’s tenure was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted that helium is “so grateful and proud” for the School of Medicine’s successes contempt these challenges. Under his leadership, the aesculapian schoolhouse reached a full of $588 cardinal successful probe backing successful fiscal twelvemonth 2022 and saw an summation successful the fig of investigators funded by the National Institutes of Health.
“I did not expect a planetary pandemic occurring during my tenure oregon the ensuing tumultuous times, yet each and each 1 of you roseate to the situation with singular courageousness and resilience,” Sukhatme wrote. “For that I cannot convey you enough.”
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