Committee formed to find Robinson's successor
Vanderbilt Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt has appointed a 16-member search committee of Board of Trust members, faculty and administrators to select a successor to Dr. Roscoe R. Robinson, who will step down as Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs July 1.
Wyatt will chair the committee, which is expected to begin meeting in the near future.
"This is clearly a very important search for Vanderbilt at a time of rapid and extensive change in the delivery of health care services," Wyatt wrote in his charge to the committee.
"With Dr. Robinson's leadership, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center has become preeminent among our peers. Our opportunity is to further accelerate the pace of progress and take Vanderbilt University Medical Center to a new level among academic health centers."
The committee will spearhead a national search to identify candidates for the University's senior health position, which oversees the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, Vanderbilt University Hospital and a wide range of clinical and research operations including The Vanderbilt Clinic, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and the Vanderbilt Cancer Center.
Robinson, VUMC's leader since 1981, will take a sabbatical before returning to Vanderbilt as a professor of Medicine and a consultant.
"One of Vanderbilt's unique opportunities lies in the growth of stronger interdisciplinary relationships in research and education across the entire university, while continuing to strengthen clinical research and service delivery in the medical center," Wyatt said. "We are fortunate to have an exemplary management team already in place. The committee's task is to identify the leader for the next generation of development."
Members of the search committee include: Thomas G. Burish, Ph.D., Provost; Dr. Irwin B. Eskind, Board of Trust and Medical Center Board member; Dr. F. Andrew Gaffney, professor of Medicine; Kenneth F. Galloway, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Engineering; Dr. Daryl K. Granner, Joe C. Davis Professor and Chair of Biomedical Science; John R. Hall, president of the Board of Trust; David M. Hercules, Ph.D., Centennial Professor and Chair of Chemistry; Lee E. Limbird, Ph.D., professor and chair of Pharmacology; Dr. John N. Lukens Jr., Craig-Weaver Professor of Pediatrics; Dr. Harold L. Moses, professor and chair of Cell Biology and director of the Vanderbilt Cancer Center; Edward G. Nelson, chair of the Medical Center Board and member of the Board of Trust; Linda D. Norman, R.N., interim associate dean of the School of Nursing; Dr. James A. O'Neill Jr., John Clinton Foshee Distinguished Professor and Chair of Surgery; Dr. Judson G. Randolph, Board of Trust and Medical Center Board member; Roxane Spitzer, Ph.D., associate dean of the School of Nursing.