Washington, DC, Oct. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Robert A. Barish, MD, MBA, vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was elected as the chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) by its members via electronic ballot in conjunction with the AAHC Annual Meeting, held virtually October 7-9. Dr. Barish, a distinguished emergency medicine physician and academic leader, oversees the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System (UI Health). As the integrated academic healthcare delivery enterprise for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), UI Health encompasses UIC's seven health sciences colleges, the university tertiary care hospital, 40+ outpatient clinics, the 13 FQHC network sites of the Mile Square Health Center, and the University of Illinois Cancer Center.
“Dr. Barish is an outstanding leader who is widely respected for his ability to lead during crises on national and local levels,” said Dr. Steven L. Kanter, AAHC president and CEO. “He is dedicated to advancing inclusiveness and diversity in the healthcare professions and healthcare delivery. I have found his guidance to be exceptional as a member of the Association’s Board of Directors, and I very much look forward to working with him and the entire AAHC Board on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”
Prior to his current position, Dr. Barish served as chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport from 2009 to 2015, where he provided leadership for the schools of medicine, allied health, and graduate programs; a major academic medical center; and two affiliated hospitals. He also served 24 years at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where he held multiple leadership positions. A former lieutenant colonel and flight surgeon in the Maryland Air National Guard, Dr. Barish was among a select group invited to become NASA astronaut candidates in the early 1990s. In 2005, following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, Dr. Barish helped lead a medical regiment dispatched by the state of Maryland to deliver emergency care to more than 6,000 hurricane victims in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.
Michael L. Good, MD, CEO of University of Utah Health, dean of the University of Utah School of Medicine, and the senior vice president of health sciences, was elected as the chair-elect of the AAHC board. Dr. Good, a distinguished anesthesiologist, academic leader, and noted inventor of the human patient simulator, works to assure the professional and educational success of more than 20,000 faculty, staff, and students at University of Utah Health, a highly advanced academic health center with an annual budget exceeding $4 billion. Prior to coming to the University of Utah, Dr. Good served as dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine.
Mohamed Sayegh, MD, FAHA, FASN, FRCP, professor of medicine and immunology at the American University of Beirut Medical Center and senior advisor on research in the Middle East and North Africa to the National Institutes of Health, joined the Board in his capacity as the newly named chair of the AAHC International (AAHCI) Steering Committee.
Elected to the board for three-year terms are: Carrie L. Byington, MD, executive vice president, UC Health, University of California; and Cam Patterson, MD, MBA, chancellor, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
AAHC is a nonprofit association dedicated to advancing health and well-being through the dynamic leadership of academic health centers.