Rahn to step down as UAMS chancellor in July 2017

Dr. Dan Rahn announced Monday (Sept. 19) he will retire July 31, 2017, as chancellor of the Little Rock-based University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). His departure will mark almost eight years as head of the state’s largest public employer.

UAMS has 3,021 students, 789 medical residents and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including about 1,000 physicians and other medical personnel who work at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS regional centers in Arkansas.

University of Arkansas System President Dr. Donald Bobbitt will form a search committee to hire the next chancellor.

“It has been one of the great privileges of my career to be able to work with a person who so clearly epitomizes professionalism,” Bobbitt said in a statement. “Dr. Dan Rahn will leave a lasting legacy at UAMS, and both the institution and the UA System are much better because of his efforts.”

Rahn, who has an annual salary of $630,000 with $270,000 in deferred annual compensation, became the UAMS chancellor on Nov. 1, 2009. Prior to UAMS, Rahn was president for eight years at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, and before that was senior vice chancellor for health and medical programs for the University System of Georgia.

“It has been, and continues to be, a great honor to serve as chancellor of UAMS,” Rahn said in the UAMS statement. “Arkansas is fortunate that UAMS has a tremendously dedicated and talented faculty and staff, all of whom work every day to improve health and health care in Arkansas. I look forward to the year ahead and know that the impact of this institution will only increase in the future.”

Following are some the key points of his tenure as noted by UAMS.
• Rahn led a university-wide initiative to improve efficiencies, cost effectiveness and performance, saving more than $100 million.

• Educational degree programs at UAMS and student numbers have grown with the addition of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Campus in Fayetteville. UAMS now has 75 degree and certificate programs and educates the majority of the state’s physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other health care professionals.

• UAMS has strengthened its statewide presence and programs, increasing programs and services at its campus in northwest Arkansas and opening new or upgraded facilities for regional centers and family medical centers in Texarkana, Jonesboro and Fort Smith.

• Rahn has championed the development of a Dental Center and a dental residency program at UAMS, and is leading the planning process for the first College of Dentistry in Arkansas.

• Rahn has served as an advisor on health policy to both Gov. Mike Beebe and Gov. Asa Hutchinson and served on Hutchinson’s Advisory Council on Medicaid Reform.

• Rahn oversaw the growth of telemedicine programs across the state, the growth of primary care and geriatric programs operated through UAMS’ regional centers and partnerships with other providers, and the addition of educational programs including a doctorate of nursing practice, doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, physician assistant and physical therapy degree programs.

Rahn is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale University School of Medicine, where he later began his professional career as director of the Lyme Disease Program, director of clinical training in rheumatology and director of faculty practice for the Department of Internal Medicine. He and his wife, Lana, have three grown children and two grandchildren.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a northwest Arkansas regional campus; a statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state.