approach will integrate patient care activities across the full continuum of service and better align our clinical enterprise with our mission of excellence in biomedical research and education.

This unification of mission will produce a more focused and efficient medical center. We will be better positioned to bring together the best minds in medicine and science and to use the discoveries generated to improve patient care at Chicago and around the world.

The timing of this change grew out of the announcement last February that Hospitals President, Michael Riordan, intended to leave in June. This provided an opportunity for our Boards to review the management and governance structure and focus on ways to improve upon our success. A Medical Center Transition Committee consisting of hospital trustees was formed and recommendations were provided to each Board. These recommendations were formally adopted on June 1, 2006 by the University Board.

The Boards created the new position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Medical Center. I am pleased and honored to report that I have been asked to serve as the CEO for the Medical Center. I will also continue to serve as Dean of the Division of Biological Sciences and University Vice President for Medical Affairs. In addition to creating a new CEO position for the Medical Center, the Boards also voted to expand the purview of the Hospitals Board to include clinical medical programs of the BSD and rename it the Medical Center Board. The Medical Center Board will be chaired by Valerie Jarrett and will include a nine-member medical center executive committee. That committee will include the University President, the BSD Dean/VP/CEO, the chairs of both the University and Medical Center boards, and 5 additional University-appointed board members.

A search committee has been formed by the Medical Center trustees to identify a new Medical Center President. I hope to conclude this search and appoint the new President by early next year.

It is a tremendous honor to be given the opportunity to lead this large and diverse enterprise. Though in the short term these changes are not likely to have a detectable impact in our daily efforts to provide quality patient care, I am confident that in the long term this closer integration of the research and teaching missions with patient care will provide a tremendous advantage for our patients, students, faculty and staff.

Valerie Jarrett to Lead Expanded Board of Medical Center
Valerie Jarrett has been appointed Chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board, Chair of a newly created Executive Committee of that board, and Vice-Chair of the University's Board of Trustees...

When Fish First Walked: The Transition from Fins to Limbs
Scientists have long sought the critical point at which fish evolved to the first land-walking creatures, when fins became limbs. Neil Shubin, PhD, associate dean for organismal and evolutionary biology...

Gordon Center for Integrative Science
On April 26, the University announced Ellen and Melvin Gordon's generous contribution of $25 million to name the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Center for Integrative Science. The Gordons' gift marks the University's third gift of $25 million or more in the past four months to support science and medicine...

Understanding the Golgi Apparatus
Cells are the basic units of life, and the characterization of cellular structure and function has been the challenge of cell biologists ever since these units were identified. Researchers have generally viewed cells as machines composed of stable, well-defined components...

Pritzker School of Medicine Rises in Rankings
The Pritzker School of Medicine was recognized by the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings as the 17th (tied with Vanderbilt University) highest ranked medical school in the country, up from 19th last year...

University of Chicago Practice Plan
The first lung transplant by the University of Chicago's Lung Transplant team was successfully performed on April 22. The 44 year old male diagnosed with scleroderma received a bilateral lung transplant...

Match Day 2006
On Thursday, March 16th, the 106 members of the 2006 graduating class of the Pritzker School of Medicine crowded into the P117 auditorium, along with many of their fellow students, friends and families to participate in the traditional match day rituals...

Academic Affairs
New Hires, January 2006 - June 2006.

ACCOLADES
Recent Awards and Grants Information for Biological Sciences Division Faculty

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