Jeanne Heard Joins UAMS as Vice Chancellor
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As the chief academic officer, Jeanne Heard, M.D., Ph.D., will work with other UAMS leaders to enrich the campus’ intellectual environment.
LITTLE ROCK – Jeanne Heard, M.D., Ph.D., has been named vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Heard, who began serving as chief academic officer on Sept. 19, will work in partnership with UAMS’ five college deans and other leaders across the institution to enrich the campus’ intellectual environment.
Heard, a former associate dean for graduate medical education and professor of internal medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine, returns to UAMS from Chicago, where she helped lead the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education since 2004. She served the council as director of the Department of Accreditation Committees, senior vice president of Accreditation Committees, and most recently as senior scholar. She also has served as adjunct professor of medical education at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“Dr. Heard’s broad-ranging professional and educational experiences as well as her familiarity with UAMS make her the ideal choice for vice chancellor for academic affairs,” said UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. “We look forward to a smooth transition and continued advancement under her leadership.”
Heard replaces Larry Milne, Ph.D., who announced last September that he would return to teaching in the College of Pharmacy.
“Dr. Milne has given 36 years of exemplary service to UAMS as dean of the College of Pharmacy and vice chancellor,” Rahn said. “I am very grateful to him for agreeing to stay on as vice chancellor for the last several months while a national search was conducted for his successor. I am also glad that he will be staying at UAMS in the College of Pharmacy.”
During her tenure at UAMS, Heard won many awards that reflect the wide respect she earned from faculty and students, including the College of Medicine’s Red Sash Award for teaching excellence, the Outstanding Woman Faculty Award, the Education Innovation Award, and the Dale Bumpers AHEC Leadership Award.
Heard’s legacy in the College of Medicine lives on through the Jeanne K. Heard Award for Excellence in Clinical Skills, which is presented each year to the senior medical student who scores the highest on practical clinical exams.
UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; 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 for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute, the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and the Translational Research Institute. Named best Little Rock metropolitan area hospital by U.S. News & World Report, it is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,836 students and 761 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com.