Message from the President Regarding SLU Medical Center Leadership

Dear Colleagues, 

I write to inform you of changes in leadership at our Medical Center. 

Dr. Kevin Behrns, School of Medicine Dean and Vice President for Medical Affairs (VPMA), will step down from his position on Dec. 31. After a brief sabbatical, Dr. Behrns will join the faculty, while continuing to pursue his next leadership position in academic medicine. 

I thank Dr. Behrns for his hard work, dedication and integrity in leading our School of Medicine. I especially want to recognize his leadership in ensuring the School’s probationary status was removed by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME). As I announced last spring, I asked Dr. Behrns to focus most of his time on the LCME remediation, and that was achieved ahead of the two-year deadline for corrective actions to be approved. Thanks to Dr. Behrns and those who joined the effort, LCME did not find a single deficiency in its June visit. 

Please join me in thanking Dr. Behrns for his commitment to our medical education and patient care enterprises and the many successes he achieved. 

Effective Jan. 1, I am appointing Dr. Robert Wilmott Acting Dean and Vice President for Medical Affairs. Dr. Wilmott currently serves as Vice Dean for Medical Affairs and oversees our medical practice, SLUCare, and was previously Chair of the Dept. of Pediatrics. I will soon begin an internal search for the next Dean and VPMA. There are several reasons why I decided on an internal search. Among them 

• This is a time of great changes and challenges in academic medicine and it is imperative to have a leader with knowledge of our vital partnership with SSM Health. SSM Health and SLU are in the middle of a number of activities to build transparency, align our operations and create a common strategy for the future. 

• Continuity is essential as the clinical practice undertakes significant changes — SLUCare Central first among them — to enhance the patient experience and strengthen the practice’s bottom line. Someone already familiar with the changes and knowledgeable of our complex finances is important at this time of substantial change in the market and the practice. 

• The chairs of our clinical and basic sciences departments strongly advocated that the next Dean and Vice President for Medical Affairs come from within our ranks. 

A search committee will be announced in January, with the expectation of appointing the next Dean and VPMA no later than April 1. The appointment will run until December 31, 2021. At the end of 2020, we will begin a national search for the next dean and VPMA. 

I thank our faculty and staff at the School of Medicine and SLUCare for all that they do to educate the next generation of physicians and provide informed, compassionate health care to their patients. 

Sincerely, 

Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.
President