Charles B. Cairns, MD, FACEP, FAHA, who has served as vice dean of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson since September, has been promoted to interim dean of the college, effective Feb. 16, 2015.
Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, MD, UA senior vice president for health sciences, who has served as interim dean of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson since March 2014, returns full time as UA senior vice president for health sciences, a position he has held since September 2013. A national search for a permanent dean is expected to launch in fall 2015.
Dr. Cairns, who will continue to report to Dr. Garcia, also serves as assistant vice president for clinical research and clinical trials at the Arizona Health Sciences Center. In addition to being an accomplished health administrator, Dr. Cairns is a nationally recognized leader in emergency and critical care research and a professor in the UA Department of Emergency Medicine.
"I am honored to take on this important position at this key time in the evolution of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, especially in contemplation of the new clinical partnership with Banner Health,” Dr. Cairns said. “I look forward to serving the students, faculty and staff of the University and the people of Arizona."
Dr. Garcia said, “Dr. Cairns truly `hit the ground running’ upon his arrival at the UA and has done a superb job as vice dean. He has quickly earned the respect and trust of colleagues throughout the college and is well-positioned to serve as interim dean. With the recent successes we have had as a college, including recruitment of talented individuals to fill key leadership positions and the accomplishment of several important initiatives, I can return full time to efforts as senior vice president for health sciences.” (Please see end of this release for some of the past fiscal year’s key accomplishments and major appointments at the college.)
Prior to joining the UA, Dr. Cairns was professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also served as consulting faculty for the Duke Clinical Research Institute at Duke University Medical Center. He also served as the principal investigator of the National Collaborative for Bio-preparedness, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and as the associate director of the U.S. Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Cairns’ research interests include the host response to acute infections, acute asthma, trauma and cardiac resuscitation and regionalization of emergency and critical care.
At UNC-CH, Dr. Cairns served in leadership roles in medical education and curriculum reform, health information technology strategy, university system campus security and health-care system strategic planning. Prior to joining UNC-CH, Dr. Cairns served as associate chief of emergency medicine at Duke University Medical Center and director of emergency medicine research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Dr. Cairns has published more than 160 scientific articles and reviews. His work has appeared in such prestigious journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Academic Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Circulation, Chest, Journal of Trauma, Academic Medicine and Science Translational Medicine. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the EMF Established Investigator Award, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Outstanding Contribution in Research Award and the 2014 John Marx Leadership Award, the highest award of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
He also has served in leadership positions in emergency and critical care medicine organizations, including co-chair of the ACEP-SAEM Research Working Group, SAEM program chair, ACEP Research Committee chair, ACEP Scientific Review Committee chair, on the EMF Board of Trustees, the Leadership Committee for the American Heart Association Council on Cardiopulmonary and Critical Care, the Steering Committee for the Critical Care Societies Collaborative Task Force on Critical Care Research, the Coordination Committee for the NIH National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and as a co-chair of the NIH Roundtables on Emergency Research. He has served on the editorial boards of both Academic Emergency Medicine and the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Cairns is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College and was a Holderness Medical Fellow at the University of North Carolina, where he received the Medical Faculty Award as the outstanding graduating medical student. He completed an emergency medicine residency and EMF Research Fellowship at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He received post-graduate training in the Program in Genetics of Complex Diseases at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, and the Health Care Leadership Academy at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Cairns is board-certified in emergency medicine, a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and a fellow of the American Heart Association.
Recent Key Accomplishments at UA College of Medicine – Tucson
- Banner Agreement: The UA and Banner Health finalized the terms of a 30-year academic affiliation agreement that will provide significant capital and investment resources for needed improvements to clinical facilities, equipment and clinical, clinical research and education programs. (February 2015)
- Full LCME Re-accreditation: The UA College of Medicine – Tucson received full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) through 2022, the full eight-year term. (January 2014)
- Research Office Restructured: The UA College of Medicine – Tucson Research Office was combined with the new AHSC Research Administration Office to focus on providing concierge-level service to all AHSC faculty in support of research pre- and post-award activities, including sponsored project application submission, contract negotiation and clinical trials. (July 2014)
- Completed Key Recruitments (in addition to Dr. Cairns and several others):
- Leigh A. Neumayer, MD, MS, appointed the first female chair of the UA Department of Surgery. She previously served as professor of surgery and vice chair for academic affairs at the University of Utah School of Medicine Department of Surgery, and co-director of the multidisciplinary team treating breast cancer at Huntsman Cancer Institute. (March 1, 2014)
- Andrew S. Kraft, MD, was appointed director of the UA Cancer Center, AHSC associate vice president for oncology programs and senior associate dean for translational research in the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, among other duties. He previously was director of the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. (Sept. 18, 2014)
- Myra Muramoto, MD, MPH, was appointed interim head of the UA Department of Family and Community Medicine. She previously was senior vice head of the department. A search for a permanent department head is near completion. (Oct. 1, 2014)
- Monica Kraft, MD, was appointed chair of the UA Department of Medicine. She previously served as chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care at Duke University and as director of the Duke Asthma, Allergy and Airway Center, among other duties. (Nov. 18, 2014)
- Wayne K. Jacobsen, MD, FCCM, was appointed head of the UA Department of Anesthesiology. He previously served as interim head since 2013. (Jan. 5, 2015)
- Increased NIH Awards: NIH awards to the UA College of Medicine – Tucson increased by almost 4 percent over FY2013 ($52.6 million awarded in FY2014 compared to $51.7 million in FY2013).
- New Department Created: The Arizona Board of Regents approved establishment of a new Department of Otolaryngology at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, Alex Chiu, MD, named inaugural chair. (October 2014)