Geisel School of Medicine dean Wiley “Chip” Souba will not seek reappointment to a second term, College President Phil Hanlon announced Wednesday. Souba served as Geisel’s dean for one four-year term. Though Souba, who is currently traveling, was unavailable for comment, he will as a member of the medical school faculty continue his work on nationally expanding his interests in the future of medical education, according to Hanlon’s statement.
College spokesperson Justin Anderson said that Souba’s decision was personal.
“It’s a big commitment,” Anderson said. “He served one full term and has decided he wants to focus on Geisel in other ways.”
But citing criticism over his decision to cancel Gesiel’s M.D./Ph.D. program and budget shortfalls, three professors at Geisel said that they were not surprised that Souba would not serve a second term. Several others declined to comment.
This past February, Souba announced that Geisel would end its M.D./Ph.D. program. The decision was reversed later that month after widespread criticism. An online petition received about 1,000 signatures from faculty, students and alumni.
The decision to cut the program, Geisel professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology Alexandra Howell said, upset many Geisel faculty.
Geisel professor of medicine and vice president for research affairs Richard Enelow said that there was “widespread shock” among Geisel’s faculty when Souba announced the program’s suspension. He said that the faculty felt the decision signaled a failure to appreciate the importance of the program.
Enelow, who has been at Dartmouth for several years, said faculty members were also upset by Souba’s financial decisions, which led to budget cuts in many departments.
He said that Souba was overly optimistic of how well the medical school would perform under his expansion and growth plan, which led to budget gaps. Other forces, including a nationwide drop in government research funding, also widened the gaps.
He added that the funding cuts required by Geisel’s budget put Souba into a difficult position.
“When you have to cut budgets, there’s very little way you can do that without generating discontent,” Enelow said.
In comparison to other medical schools, Souba’s four-year term follows national trends.
A 2007 survey from SpencerStuart, an executive search firm, found that on average a medical school’s dean serves for four years, while upper-level college administrators generally serve about 8.5 years.
“The job is inherently challenging under the best of circumstances, and under stressful financial circumstances, it’s likely impossible,” Enelow said.
Anderson said that an interim dean for Geisel will be announced in the next few days, and that the College seeks a candidate who will improve Geisel’s reputation in both education and research.
Howell said that the new dean of Geisel should have a strong vision of where the medical school should go should support both research, and teaching.
Enelow said he believes the new dean needs to recognize Geisel’s potential to be a leading medical school.
“We would be hoping to have someone who recognizes the important strengths that Geisel possesses which, properly leveraged, could put us in the top tier of medical schools,” he said.
Before his time at Dartmouth, Souba served as Ohio State University’s Dean of the College of Medicine and vice president and executive dean of Health Services. He also was a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and the chief of surgical oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In June 2011, he unveiled the 20x20 plan, which aimed to propel Geisel into the nation’s top 20 medical schools by 2020. In March, U.S. News and World Report ranked Geisel 18th for primary care and 34th for research, rising 13 and four spots, respectively, from the previous year.
In the fall of 2013, Geisel won an $18 million five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health for translational research, which combines research discoveries with clinical practice.
Enelow said that the grant showed the program’s strength.
Souba’s departure from his post follows a string of changes to Hanlon’s administration. Once Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson officially departs at the end of this month, seven senior positions will have changed leadership since Hanlon took office last June.
