Organizational Changes and Academic Leadership Realignment

Dear colleagues,

After seven years of impactful leadership at the University of Arizona, Dr. Michael Dake will step away from his responsibilities as Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, effective immediately.

A physician, scientist, teacher, and administrator, Dr. Dake has been instrumental in advancing health sciences during his tenure. Under his leadership, the university successfully integrated education, research, clinical care, and community engagement initiatives across health sciences colleges. As a member of the university’s senior leadership team, Dr. Dake worked collaboratively across the institution and with our partners at Banner Health to strengthen the university’s impact in the health sciences, including providing critical public health services through the pandemic, and positioning the state of Arizona’s position as a hub for health innovation and biomedical research.

Internationally recognized for pioneering advances in vascular imaging and interventional therapy, Dr. Dake made medical history with the world’s first implantation of a thoracic stent-graft and has helped redefine the standard of care for aortic aneurysms and related conditions. His work has had a lasting impact on both medical practice and education, shaping the future of health care.

Please join me in thanking Dr. Dake for his vision, leadership, and service to the university and our communities throughout Arizona. We wish him continued success in the next chapter of his distinguished career.

With Dr. Dake leaving his leadership role, and as part of our strategic work to strengthen our academic organization and better integrate efforts across all U of A colleges, our health sciences colleges will now report to the Provost. All current academic programs, course offerings, faculty shared governance, and promotion and tenure criteria will remain unchanged in these colleges.

Moving forward, the Senior Vice President position will not be filled. Dr. Jennifer Barton, Director of the BIO5 Institute, has agreed to serve as Interim Vice Provost for Health Programs, reporting to the Provost. In this capacity, she will oversee the research and administrative functions currently within Health Sciences, and she will assist in ensuring the continuity of our clinical partnership with Banner Health.  An interim leader for the BIO5 Institute will be named soon.

This realignment establishes a unified academic framework for the university as we prepare to welcome our new Provost. Integrating our health sciences colleges more fully with the rest of our academic enterprise will enable our incoming Provost, Dr. Patricia Prelock, to work effectively with university leaders, faculty, and staff to enhance connections across disciplines and to maintain consistent academic standards, processes and practices across colleges. By coordinating and aligning our efforts, we will create a more consistent learning experience for every student in every college.

With all academic units working together in a newly unified structure, we will remain committed to the distinctive clinical mission of our health sciences colleges, and we will seek to build connections throughout campus that enhance and elevate this mission even further. Through our partnership with Banner Health, our academic medical centers continue to be among the best in the Southwest, and we will use this new structure to further strengthen our important collaboration. Our faculty, staff, and students will continue to drive breakthroughs in critical health challenges, including precision medicine, cancer research, pain and addiction, compassionate care delivery, pandemic preparedness, rural health, and so many other areas where we have established our leadership and made transformative impacts on human health.

We remain deeply committed to educating the next generation of health professionals, advancing human wellbeing through research, innovation, and clinical care, and building healthier communities throughout Arizona and beyond.

I am grateful for your continued dedication to our university and look forward to working together to deliver on our promise as Arizona’s keystone institution.

Sincerely, 
Suresh