UAMS College of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece Recruited to University of Maryland School of Medicine

June 7, 2006 |

LITTLE ROCK – University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., announced today the resignation of E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., effective Sept. 1 as vice chancellor and dean of the UAMS College of Medicine.

 

Reece, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine and an international expert in diabetes and prenatal diagnosis and therapy, is leaving to become vice president for medical affairs at the University of Maryland and dean of the School of Medicine.

 

“Dr. Reece has demonstrated steadfast commitment to our missions of patient care, education and research during his tenure. We will miss him and wish him the best in the future,” Wilson said. “As College of Medicine dean he has improved not just medical education but the quality of research at UAMS.”

 

Wilson said UAMS will begin a search to replace Reece and is confident UAMS will find someone highly qualified to carry forward its goals.

 

Reece began as dean at UAMS in January 2002 after serving as the Abraham Roth Professor and Chair of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Reece succeeded Wilson, who was dean of medicine from 1986 to 2000, and Interim Dean John P. Shock, M.D., chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute at UAMS.

 

Reece said he and his family have enjoyed living in Little Rock and working with the wonderful community of people at UAMS.

 

“I consider it an honor and a privilege to have been Dr. Wilson’s successor as dean of the College of Medicine. I am truly impressed with the institution’s commitment to quality health care, education, research, and service to Arkansas, which has gone a long way toward improving the health of all Arkansans,” Reece said.

 

During Reece’s tenure at UAMS, he oversaw the appointment of seven new Chairs; recruitment of more than 30 funded scientists and leaders; significant expansion of research programs; doubling of research funding; and doubling of the transplant program, including increasing the number of kidney and pancreas transplants and creating the state’s first liver transplant program, with 28 transplants in its first year.

 

Also during Reece’s time as dean, UAMS began a weight control program, increased the pass rates of medical students on external exams and began statewide and out-of-state telemedicine clinical programs.

Reece is a native of Jamaica, West Indies. He received a bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) from Long Island University, a medical degree from New York University School of Medicine; a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of West Indies and a master’s degree in business administration from the Fox School of Business and Management at Temple University. He completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University – Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. He was on the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine from 1982 to 1991. In 1991, he was recruited to be chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Temple University School of Medicine.

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,320 students and 690 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 9,300 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the VA Medical Center. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $4.5 billion a year. For more information, visit www.uams.edu.