Robert Golden, MD, is stepping down as dean of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, a role he has held since 2006.
Dr. Golden announced his plans to depart the Madison, Wis.-based institution Jan. 30, noting he will step down once the school has a successor in place. The university will begin a national search for the next dean and vice chancellor this spring.
Dr. Golden's 18-year tenure makes him one of the longest-serving medical school deans in the country, according to the university. He is credited for fusing public health into medical education at the school, launching urban and rural medicine education tracks, prioritizing gender parity within the school's leadership ranks, increasing National Institutes of Health funding and drawing a more than tenfold increase in charitable fundraising, and restructuring of the academic health system in 2015 into a single clinical entity, among other accomplishments and milestones.
"Healthcare is a team sport, and I couldn't have asked for a better teammate than Dean Golden," Alan Kaplan, CEO of UW Health, said. "It's the coordination of clinical care and community service with research and education that makes our academic health system so remarkable."
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is one of two medical schools in Wisconsin and the only public one.