Finalist named for new president
APRIL 17, 2007--The University of Texas System Board of Regents has named Dr. David L. Callender as the sole finalist for the position of UTMB president. The action came during a special called meeting of the UT System Board of Regents in which four candidates were interviewed, and comes less than a week after the applicants met with the UTMB community in Galveston in a series of campus visits.
Callender is currently associate vice chancellor and chief executive officer of the UCLA Hospital System in Los Angeles. He also is an adjunct professor of surgery at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and is a member of the governing board of the University Health Consortium. Callender previously held numerous positions at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, including executive vice president and chief operating officer, vice president for clinical programs and medical director of the center’s Physicians Referral Service.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Midwestern State University, a medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and an MBA from the University of Houston.
"Dr. Callender is a distinguished leader capable of leading UTMB during this special time of transition. He has an excellent background in teaching and research and has demonstrated a keen ability to administer large, complex medical institutions,” Regents’ Chairman James R. Huffines said.
“The selection of finalists for the presidency of UTMB has been undertaken by the board with a full awareness that the appointment of a new president for any of our 15 institutions is one of the most important decisions that we will make," Huffines added.
“The Board of Regents has selected an outstanding finalist from among an extraordinary group of candidates, and on behalf of the presidential search advisory committee and the UT System I would like to thank all the candidates who have taken part in this lengthy and detailed process,” said Dr. Kenneth I. Shine, executive vice chancellor for health affairs and chair of the presidential search committee.
Regents interviewed a short list of four candidates, who were narrowed from an original pool of more than 25 nominees and applicants from across the country. The newly appointed president will succeed Dr. John D. Stobo, who announced last year that he plans to retire by Aug. 31.
The board is scheduled to finalize its selection at its next quarterly meeting on May 9-10 in Austin.