By Duke Medicine News and Communications

DURHAM, N.C. -- In a move to position Duke Medicine for continued growth and academic success, R. Sanders Williams, MD, the current dean for the Duke University School of Medicine, has been appointed to the newly created position of senior vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Williams will continue to serve as dean of the Duke University School of Medicine until a new dean has been identified through a search process that is now underway. Williams will also retain his title as dean of the Duke/National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School (GMS) through the completion of the 2007-08 academic year. Both the new dean of the Duke School of Medicine and the new dean of GMS Singapore will report directly to Williams.

In his new role, Williams will have primary responsibility for the academic success across the entities that comprise Duke Medicine, enhancing collaboration between the Duke University School of Medicine and GMS Singapore. He will also lead the implementation of the strategic plans for the schools of medicine, working closely with the medical school deans as a team, and lead the Duke University School of Medicine's philanthropic and fundraising efforts. Williams will report directly to Victor Dzau, MD, chancellor for health affairs at Duke and president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System.

"The scale and complexity of the academic, research and clinical care missions of the school have quickly grown to a point that they now demand a greater breadth and intensity of high level leadership," Dzau said. "This new leadership framework will facilitate greater strategic effectiveness for the School of Medicine and will distribute leadership responsibilities, allowing a higher degree of focus by the deans and the senior vice chancellor."

Duke Provost Peter Lange said Williams "has been a superb strategic leader for the School of Medicine, building interdisciplinary and international initiatives, making strong faculty leadership hires and developing and strengthening medicine's ties across the campus. His new role will let him concentrate his efforts in ways that will make the most of these skills. I look forward to continuing to work with him and the new dean to knit relationships across the university."

Over the past six years under Williams' leadership, the Duke School of Medicine has experienced significant growth, including an annual budget that now exceeds $800 million, a near doubling of research funding from the National Institutes of Health to almost $350 million, the construction of five new research buildings, the creation of the GMS Singapore, the development of several new national and international research institutes and an increase of several hundred new faculty.

Over the same period of time, the regulatory and compliance requirements and responsibilities for schools of medicine in the United States have become increasingly more complex and time consuming, Dzau said.

"I am excited about the opportunities presented by this new role and believe strongly that the addition of a new senior leader in the role of dean of the Duke University School of Medicine will greatly increase our strategic effectiveness," Williams said. "Our faculty and students are among the best in the world, as their accomplishments over the past few years demonstrate, but they face increasing challenges from the external environment. A primary responsibility of senior academic leaders is to ensure that the internal environment is one in which achievement by our people reaches the potential of the talent and energy of each individual. This new structure is designed to bring us closer to that ideal."

The position of dean for the Duke School of Medicine was first created in 1999 when the need was recognized to split off this responsibility from the chancellor for health affairs. The significant growth and expansion within the school from that point, particularly since 2001 under Williams' leadership, led to internal discussions regarding the possible need to expand the senior leadership team for the school in order to maximize emerging opportunities, Dzau said.

"This move reflects our commitment to dynamically structuring our leadership model for even greater growth and success moving forward," Dzau said. "I look forward to the continued leadership that Dr. Williams will provide to the school in this new role."