David M. Stern, MD, executive dean of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine at UT Health Science Center (UTHSC), and Kevin Spiegel, president and CEO for Erlanger Health System, announced that David Seaberg, MD, will be stepping down from the joint positions of dean of the UT College of Medicine, Chattanooga, and senior vice president of the Erlanger Health System.
Dr. Seaberg was recruited to Chattanooga seven years ago as the inaugural dean of the Chattanooga campus with the goal of building an academic medical center.
“There is no question that there has been very significant progress, and the relationship between the university and health system has never been stronger,” said Executive Dean Stern. “We congratulate Dr. Seaberg on these accomplishments, and are grateful to him for his unceasing efforts on behalf of UTHSC and Erlanger.”
Dr. Seaberg has agreed to continue in his current roles until a candidate has been identified to fill these positions. Subsequently, he will continue as the University Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and a faculty member on the UTHSC Chattanooga campus.
“We celebrate Dr. Seaberg’s positive impact on the Erlanger Health System and the enhancement of our academic mission in Chattanooga,” Mr. Spiegel said.
The Erlanger Health System is a five-campus health system based in Chattanooga, Tenn. Erlanger serves as the region’s only pediatric and adult Level One Trauma Center with a fleet of four air ambulances in Tennessee and Northwest Georgia, the only academic medical center affiliated with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and has the region’s only dedicated academic Children’s Hospital. Jointly, the UT College of Medicine and Erlanger Health System train more than 200 residents, Fellows and medical students. Erlanger has been named by U.S. News and World Report as the region’s number one hospital for four consecutive years.
Officials said, "As Tennessee’s only public, statewide, academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate and selected baccalaureate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC also educates and trains cohorts of medicine, pharmacy and/or health professions students -- in addition to medical residents and fellows -- at its major sites in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. Founded in 1911, during its more than 100 years, UT Health Science Center has educated and trained more than 57,000 health care professionals in academic settings and health care facilities across the state."