Robert Simari named executive vice chancellor for KU Medical Center

Colleagues,

After careful consideration and in consultation with The University of Kansas Health System and The University of Kansas Physicians, I am pleased to announce Robert D. Simari, M.D., as the executive vice chancellor for the University of Kansas Medical Center.

As you know, Dr. Simari has served as interim executive vice chancellor since July 1 and provided tremendous leadership and stability to the medical center during a time of transition. I am excited to know KU Medical Center is in capable hands, and I look forward to working closely with Dr. Simari to advance the medical center’s mission.

Additionally, Dr. Simari will continue to serve as executive dean for the School of Medicine. A national search for his replacement will begin in the coming weeks.

A 1986 alumnus of the KU School of Medicine, Dr. Simari has served as executive dean of the medical school since March 2014. He currently serves as the chief academic and administrative officer for the School of Medicine and provides oversight and leadership to all three medical school campuses: Kansas City, Wichita and Salina. He is also the Franklin E. Murphy Professor in Cardiology.

Dr. Simari has been instrumental in guiding the School of Medicine's new curriculum development and the construction of the Health Education Building, both of which debuted this past summer.

Dr. Simari is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He is the vice president of the Association of University Cardiologists and will serve as president in 2018.

Prior to joining KU, Dr. Simari served as vice chair for the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and co-principal investigator of the Center for Translational Science Activities at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he also served as a physician scientist, cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

While at the Mayo Clinic, his research laboratory made fundamental discoveries in the areas of thrombosis and identification of vascular stem cells, and for 10 years he has led the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute-funded Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network, which performs early phase clinical trials in cardiovascular cell therapy. In addition, he continues his cardiology practice at The University of Kansas Health System.

Dr. Simari earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree from the University of Kansas. Following medical school, he completed his residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, then served fellowships in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology at the Mayo Clinic. Following his clinical training, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Simari on his new role.

Respectfully,

Doug

Douglas A. Girod
Chancellor
University of Kansas