KU Medical Center’s new executive vice chancellor named

The University of Kansas Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Kan., shown from 39th Street facing east, is pictured June 11, 2017.

The University of Kansas announced on Tuesday that Robert. D. Simari, executive dean at the KU School of Medicine, has been appointed executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center.

“Dr. Simari has served as interim executive vice chancellor since July 1, and he has provided tremendous leadership and stability to the medical center during a time of transition,” KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said in a statement. “I am pleased KU Medical Center is in capable hands, and I look forward to working closely with Dr. Simari to advance the medical center’s mission.”

Simari, a 1986 alumnus of the KU School of Medicine, has served as executive dean of the medical school since March 2014. In his current role, Simari serves as the chief academic and administrative officer for the School of Medicine, overseeing KU medical school campuses in Kansas City, Wichita and Salina.

Before joining the medical center, Simari served as vice chair for the division of cardiovascular diseases and co-principal investigator of the Center for Translational Science Activities at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he also worked as a physician scientist, cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Simari still maintains his cardiology practice at the KU hospital, in addition to his administrative duties. He will continue serving as executive dean for the School of Medicine while a national search is conducted to fill that position, medical center spokeswoman Kay Hawes said.

Robert Simari

“As an alumnus and executive dean of the KU School of Medicine, it is a great honor and a humbling experience to be named executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center,” Simari said in a statement. “This is an exciting time in the 114-year history of the medical center, and I look forward to collaborating with our partners and other university leaders to continue to train the best health professionals for Kansas, improve the health of our region and discover the cures and treatments of tomorrow.”