R. Sanders "Sandy" Williams, MD'74, HS'77-'80 with students.

In a move to position Duke Medicine for continued growth and academic success, R. Sanders “Sandy” Williams, MD’74, HS’77-’80, has been appointed to a new position, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Williams will continue to serve as dean of the School of Medicine until a new dean has been chosen through a national search process that is now underway. He 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 at Duke School of Medicine and the new dean of GMS will report directly to Williams.

In his new role Williams will have primary responsibility for academic success across the entities that comprise Duke Medicine, enhancing collaboration between Duke and GMS Singapore. He will also lead the implementation of the schools’ strategic plans and lead philanthropic and fundraising efforts.

He will report directly to Victor Dzau, MD, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO 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,” said Dzau. “This new leadership framework will facilitate greater strategic effectiveness and distribute leadership responsibilities, allowing a higher degree of focus by the deans and the senior vice chancellor.

A search committee is now reviewing the job descriptions of the dean and senior vice chancellor to define and refine their respective roles. When these are finalized, they will be posted on the School of Medicine web site at http://medschool.duke.edu.

Members of the search committee are: Joseph St. Geme, III, MD, chair; Nancy Allen, MD, HS’82; Haywood Brown, MD; Monte Brown, MD; David Epstein, MD; Bill Fulkerson, MD, HS’87, B’02; Catherine Gilliss, BSN’71, DNSc; Farshid Guilak, PhD; Bob Harrington, MD, HS’90-‘93; Bridgid Hogan, PhD; Dan Kiehart, PhD; Bob Lefkowitz, MD; James McNamara, MD; Anthony Means, PhD; Drew Munro, MSIII (student representative); Chris Newgard, T’78, PhD; Ben Reese, PsyD; Joanne Wilson, MD’73; and Kathleen Barbee (staff).