UAMS Invests Rahn in Harry P. Ward Chancellor’s Chair

By Jon Parham

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D.'s, family in attendance included (left to right) his brother, Ned; daughter, Rebecca; son, Jason and his girlfriend, Marley; and wife, Lana.

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D.’s, family in attendance included (left to right) his brother, Ned; daughter, Rebecca; son, Jason and his girlfriend, Marley; and wife, Lana.

Created in 2005, the Ward chair became the first chancellor’s chair endowed at an Arkansas university. I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., who succeeded Harry P. Ward as chancellor in 2000, was the inaugural recipient.

In a video message, Gov. Mike Beebe hailed Rahn’s intellect and deliberative nature as assets for the institution.

“Chancellor Rahn arrived ready to continue the tradition of both Dr. Ward and Dr. Wilson,” Beebe said. “His actions at UAMS show he is able to face any challenge.”

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., was invested with the Harry P. Ward Chancellor's Chair.

UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., was invested with the Harry P. Ward Chancellor’s Chair.

Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges noted connections with Ward, Wilson and Rahn through his career. He warmly remembered being an overwhelmed freshman medical student at the University of Colorado who was invited for a dinner at the home of then-dean Harry Ward. He called Wilson a mentor for him as chairman of the Council of Deans when Kirch was a “very naïve young dean.”

Kirch said when interviewing to become dean at Medical College of Georgia, he was invited to dinner at the home of the search committee chairman – Rahn.

“So you can imagine what an honor and a pleasure it is for me to have the odd circle of experiences 37 years later of standing here recognizing your new chancellor and the new occupant of the Harry P. Ward Chancellor’s Chair,” said Krich, who praised Rahn’s commitment to excellence and courage.

The ceremony's speakers surrounding Dan Rahn, M.D., and wife, Lana, included (left to right) Barry Goldstein, Ph.D.; E. Lee Ronnel; B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D.; and Darrell G. Kirch, M.D.

The ceremony’s speakers surrounding Dan Rahn, M.D., and wife, Lana, included (left to right) Barry Goldstein, Ph.D.; E. Lee Ronnel; B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D.; and Darrell G. Kirch, M.D.

Rahn said he felt humbled to be the second recipient of the chair named for Ward “a man of tremendous vision, intellect and personality” and successor to Wilson who led UAMS through significant advances in research, education and patient care as well as facilities.

“Being the holder of the Harry Ward Chair is an honor and it’s a responsibility,” Rahn said. “It’s my responsibility to see that the assets of the assets of this truly great institution are focused on the public good.”

University of Arkansas System President B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D., presided over the investment ceremony held in the Fred W. Smith Conference Center at the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute on the UAMS campus.

“Harry began the UAMS renaissance. Dodd continued the momentum and it’s already abundantly clear that Dan Rahn will lead UAMS to become an even more distinguished and appreciated medical sciences university,” Sugg said.

Lee Ronnel, chairman of the UAMS Foundation Fund Board credited Rahn’s leadership at UAMS during a time of economic challenges.

“Dr. Rahn arrived at a time marked by enormous financial challenges and through his leadership, those challenges were met without sacrificing the quality of patient care, research and education programs,” Ronnel said.

Barry Goldstein, Ph.D., vice president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and a former colleague of Rahn’s at Medical College of Georgia, talked about what it was like to work with Rahn.

“Dan is the most truthful, honest, trustworthy, sincere and compassionate person I’ve ever met,” said Goldstein, who called his eight years working with Rahn the best of his career.

Rahn, an experienced health system administrator and nationally known researcher and clinician, became the fourth UAMS chancellor in 2009. In his first year as chancellor, UAMS opened a 300,000-square-foot expansion to the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, doubling the institute’s capacity for research, treatment and outreach. Construction has begun on a four-floor expansion to the Reynolds Institute on Aging.

“Dr. Rahn came here last year with leadership experience and a vision for ensuring the continued success of UAMS in improving health care in Arkansas through education, patient care and research,” Sugg said. “His tireless commitment to that goal builds on the legacy of achievement by Dr. Ward and Dr. Wilson.”

The chair is named for the late Chancellor Emeritus Harry P. Ward, M.D., UAMS chancellor from 1979 to 2000. He is credited with leading UAMS’ transformation from a small medical school with a charity hospital to an academic health center and research leader that today receives more than $100 million annually in national research grants and contracts and has an annual economic impact in Arkansas of more than $5 billion.

The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation provided the lead gift of $1 million for the chancellor’s chair, which drew support from other donors to meet the $2.5 million endowment. The chair provides flexible funding for the UAMS chancellor to use in recruiting faculty and administrators of the greatest possible caliber and vision.

University of Arkansas System President B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D., left, and UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., share a laugh during the Sept. 30 ceremony.

University of Arkansas System President B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D., left, and UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., share a laugh during the Sept. 30 ceremony.

During 21 years as UAMS chancellor, Ward saw student enrollment nearly double as each college and the area health education centers expanded their education programs. Ward’s tenure as chancellor also saw new facilities and financial support that allowed UAMS to build on its ability to deliver patient care, provide health care education and support groundbreaking research.

Wilson, who served 14 years as dean of the UAMS College of Medicine before becoming chancellor, led UAMS through a period of growth and success unprecedented in its 130-year history. During his time as chancellor more than $460 million in construction was completed, bolstering the main campus in Little Rock as well as UAMS resources around the state.

Prior to coming to UAMS, Rahn served since 2001 as president of the Medical College of Georgia and senior vice chancellor for health and medical programs for the University System of Georgia.

A nationally known expert on Lyme disease, Rahn directed the Lyme Disease Program in the Yale University School of Medicine, the place where he began his professional career in 1979.

As a clinician he was listed four times in the annual America’s Top Doctors guide.

Dr. Rahn is nationally recognized for work on health care workforce shortages through serving on committees of the Association of Academic Health Centers and Association of American Medical Colleges.

He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with honors in physics. He also received his medical degree from Yale, graduating cum laude. He completed his residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a postdoctoral fellowship in rheumatology at Yale.

An endowed chair is the highest academic honor that can be bestowed by a university on its faculty. A chair can honor the memory of a loved one or, as in this case, honor the accomplishments of the former UAMS chancellor. It is supported with designated gifts of $1 million or more.

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