photo by: Journal-World File

Dr. Robert D. Simari, executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center

With University of Kansas Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Douglas Girod leaving the position to become KU chancellor effective July 1, the medical center will need a new exec.

On Tuesday, Girod, in consultation with KU Health System and KU Physicians, announced that KU School of Medicine Executive Dean Robert Simari will fill the position on an interim basis.

“Dr. Simari’s appointment to this role will provide stability to the medical center campus during this time of transition and will allow KU Medical Center initiatives and programs to continue moving forward without interruption,” Girod said, in a message to campus. “…I know that I am leaving the medical center in capable hands and look forward to continuing our strong relationship of collaboration over the next several months.”

Executive Dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine Dr. Robert Simari at his office on the KU Medical Center's Kansas City, Kan., campus.

Girod said he would consider “next steps” to permanently fill the executive vice chancellor role as the two make their respective transitions.

In addition to serving as interim executive vice chancellor of the medical center, Simari will continue as executive dean of the medical school, a role he’s held since March 2014, according to KU. Simari is a KU professor of cardiology and has a cardiology practice with KU Health System.

“It is an honor to work with Dr. Girod who is a model of servant leadership,” Simari said, in a news release from KU. “His vision has transformed our campus and my main goal is to maintain the momentum that he has established.”

Previously Simari was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., as vice chairman for the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and co-principal investigator of the Center for Translational Science Activities. He also was a physician scientist, cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. His research laboratory made fundamental discoveries in the areas of thrombosis and identification of vascular stem cells, according to KU, and for 10 years he led the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute-funded Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network, which performs early phase clinical trials in cardiovascular cell therapy.

Simari earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree from KU. He completed his residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Michigan.