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Joseph C. Kolars, M.D., to be U-M Medical School's First Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 May 2009, 14:05 CDT

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Joseph C. Kolars, M.D., has been named the University of Michigan Medical School's first Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Initiatives, effective June 1, pending the approval of the U-M Board of Regents.

Kolars will serve as the Medical School's lead for the oversight and expansion of both its educational mission and its global initiatives. Says James O. Woolliscroft, M.D., the medical school's dean and Lyle C. Roll Professor of Medicine, "In his new role, Dr. Kolars will lead our efforts to enhance the full spectrum of medical training, from undergraduate to continuing education, biomedical research education, and bring it together with global impact."

A gastroenterologist, Kolars currently holds several positions at the Mayo Clinic, including professor of medicine, emeritus residency program director in the Department of Internal Medicine, and consultant to the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Since late 2007, Kolars has divided his time between the Mayo Clinic and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he works on education systems that will build human resource capacity to transform health. He will continue to work on these initiatives on behalf of the Gates Foundation after he arrives at Michigan.

Kolars has focused his career on physician education and has held a number of leadership roles in education programs for medical students, residents, and fellows, including program director of one of the largest internal medicine residencies in the U.S. His scholarship has largely emphasized educational outcomes, measurements of competency, faculty development, and effective learning venues. Most recently, he has worked with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education on its Educational Innovations Project, designed to reform graduate medical education.

His extensive experience worldwide uniquely qualifies him for leading the University of Michigan Medical School's global initiatives. He has been involved in numerous faculty development programs worldwide. He has given lectures or conducted classes in many parts of the globe, including China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Peru, Germany, Pakistan, South Africa, Ghana, and Vietnam. For more than three years, he lived in Shanghai with his family to establish a new healthcare system that could also serve as a learning site for local physicians.

Kolars obtained his M.D. degree in 1982 from the University of Minnesota Medical School and then completed his gastroenterology fellowship training at Michigan. He stayed at the University of Michigan, first as an instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine in 1989, then as an assistant professor in 1991, and as an associate professor with tenure in 1995. He served as associate chair for Graduate Medical Education and Residency Program Director in the Department of Internal Medicine from 1993 to 1996. He has maintained his affiliation with Michigan by serving as an adjunct associate professor of medicine since 1999.

Photo: http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1143

SOURCE University of Michigan Health System

Source: PR Newswire

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