I am pleased to announce that Dr. A. Lorris Betz has agreed to serve as interim senior vice president for the University of Utah Health Sciences, CEO of University of Utah Health, and executive dean of the University’s School of Medicine as we conduct a national search for this very important position. Dr. Betz is uniquely suited to fill this role having previously served in the position, as well as having served as interim president of the University of Utah twice during his career.
Dr. Betz is well respected by university faculty, the community, and national leaders in health care. He and I worked closely together for many years at the university and I deeply appreciate his willingness to leave retirement to return to a position and an institution he knows so well. Dr. Betz is one of the most collaborative leaders I have worked with in my career and I am confident his seasoned leadership and understanding of the university will provide stability not only to our health care system and health sciences programs, but also to the university as a whole. His experience will also ensure important initiatives, like the transformation of our health sciences campus, begun over the past few years will continue moving forward without interruption.
Dr. Betz will begin work Monday and I look forward to resuming our collaborative relationship.
President David W. Pershing
University of Utah
About Dr. A. Lorris Betz
Dr. Betz served as the University of Utah’s senior vice president for health sciences, executive dean of the School of Medicine, and CEO of University of Utah Health Care from 1999 to 2011. He guided the university’s Health Sciences with a mission of providing world-class patient care, delivering outstanding medical education, and conducting transformative research. Dr. Betz’s Exceptional Patient Experience Initiative helped University of Utah Health become a top academic medical center in quality of patient care. Twice serving as interim president of the university, he was an early advocate of the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative, a state-sponsored program designed to fuel economic development.
Dr. Betz served as chair of the Association of American Medical College’s Council (AAMC) Board of Directors from 2013 to 2014. He was named an AAMC Distinguished Service Member in 2012 in recognition of his work with that organization for more than a decade. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia since 2011 and he is currently the chair-elect.
Dr. Betz held faculty appointments in the University of Utah’s Department of Pediatrics, the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, and the Department of Physiology. Prior to coming to Utah, he served as the interim dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Michigan. He served a residency and research fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco after receiving his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Wisconsin in 1975. He also has a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. He was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Utah in 2012.