Matthias Salathe

Matthias Salathe was named the university's Chief Research Officer and Senior Vice Chancellor in fall 2024. In this role, he is tasked with administratively overseeing and facilitating research initiatives across all KU campuses and The University of Kansas Health System.

Matthias joined KU Medical Center in 2018 as professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine within the School of Medicine. Since 2020, he also served in the role of Vice Chancellor for Research for KU Medical Center. When the One KU reorganization was announced in summer 2024, he assumed the Chief Research Officer role.

As chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, Matthias successfully transitioned the department’s operations from a major clinical focus to a comprehensive academic mindset through strategic alignment and recruitment initiatives. These resulted in a substantial increase in federal and other research funding. As Vice Chancellor for Research, he directed KU Medical Center’s transformative change in research operations. Collaborating closely with university leadership, he helped to double federal research expenditures.

Prior to joining KU, Matthias’ career trajectory spanned several institutions. He ascended the ranks at the University of Miami, where he ultimately led the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. Matthias holds an MD from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and clinically trained in Switzerland, including a partial anesthesiology and then an internal medicine residency. In Miami, he completed his clinical training in pulmonary and critical care medicine and pursued research training through a postdoctoral fellowship supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Upon joining the University of Miami faculty, Matthias established a basic and transitional research program focused on cystic fibrosis and chronic bronchitis. This program was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Lung Association, the Florida Biomedical Research Program, the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. As an educator, Matthias co-directed the pulmonary module for medical students for 17 years, during which he garnered 11 student teaching awards. Currently, he continues his research endeavors and provides care to outpatients affected by cystic fibrosis.