UConn Health

September 23, 2011 | Christopher DeFrancesco '95 (CLAS) - UConn Health

Health Center VP/Dean Interviews to Start Next Month

The search committee expects to narrow the field of candidates in the coming weeks.

UConn Health Center building

UConn Health's research, clinical care, and teaching missions have all improved since the launch of Bioscience Connecticut.

The field of candidates for the UConn Health Center’s next vice president for health affairs and medical school dean should be down to eight or fewer by next month.

“I believe the search committee will be very pleased with the quality and depth of the applicant pool,” says Dr. Warren Ross with Korn/Ferry International, the firm assisting with the search.

University President Susan Herbst announced the search committee members in June.

“We expect there’ll be at least two dozen outstanding candidates to choose from,” says Dr. Gerard N. Burrow, committee co-chair and recently retired chair of the UConn Health Center Board of Directors. “The search committee will meet Oct. 6 to identify candidates to invite for an interview, a list of probably six to eight names.”

The search began in earnest in early July, with ads running publications including the New York Times, New England Journal of Medicine, and Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

“With the passage of Bioscience Connecticut, this is an exciting time for the UConn Health Center, and this is an exciting process,” says committee co-chair Mun Choi, dean of the UConn School of Engineering. “We are choosing who will lead the UConn Health Center into its bright future.”

Bioscience Connecticut is the major initiative championed by Gov. Dannell P. Malloy and passed the General Assembly earlier this year to make Connecticut a global center of bioscience discovery and innovation, increase the number of physicians and dentists practicing in Connecticut, and improve access to health care. New capital investments include renovation of the 250,000 square feet of Health Center laboratory space, doubling the amount of university incubator space for collaboration with entrepreneurs and industry, recruiting 100 new faculty clinicians, scientists and translational clinicians; the construction of a new hospital tower and ambulatory care center, renovations to the current John Dempsey Hospital building, and expansion of the enrollment in medical and dental school classes by 30 percent. An economic analysis projects the creation of approximately 16,000 jobs associated with the initiative over the next 25 years.

For more UConn Health Center news and information, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.