New EVPMA Recommended to the Board of Regents

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that I am recommending Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., to serve as U-M’s next executive vice president for medical affairs, with the formal appointment pending approval by the Board of Regents in December.

Dr. Runge brings significant experience and a track record of great success in multiple aspects of academic medicine. His accomplishments as a clinician, physician-scientist and leader are ideally suited to advance the U-M Health System’s tripartite mission of clinical care, education and research. I am very impressed by his record of working across academic divisions to strengthen the overall mission of his institution.

He would begin March 1 and lead a system that includes hospitals and centers ranked among the best in the nation for patient care and Michigan’s top tier medical school.

Dr. Runge is currently executive dean at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. In that role, he leads the school’s clinical and academic programs. Since 2000, he has served as chair of UNC’s Department of Medicine, which has 350 faculty and 1,100 staff.

For the last four years, he has been the principal investigator and director of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute at UNC, which pursues funds for translational research and is part of a consortium to enhance biomedical research and help improve patient care nationwide.

Dr. Runge earned a B.A. in biology and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University and an M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he was an intern and resident in internal medicine. His experience includes a cardiology fellowship and faculty appointment at Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital.

My recommendation of Dr. Runge follows a successful and competitive search process. I thank the members of the search committee for their thorough efforts leading to this outstanding appointment.

I also express my utmost appreciation to Dr. Michael Johns, who has served U-M with distinction as the interim EVPMA and will continue to do so until March 1. Dr. Johns has worked tirelessly to ensure an effective transition since beginning in June, while upholding the highest levels of excellence of the UMHS and the academic programs he oversees.

Mark S. Schlissel
President