Dean Gary Raskob Announced as Interim SVP and Provost of OUHSC

OU President Harroz announced today that Dr. Jason Sanders, Senior Vice President and Provost for the OU Health Sciences Center, has accepted a position at University of Vermont Health (UVM Health), and his last day at OU will be January 15. Provost Sanders will serve as the next UVM Health Network Medical Group President and CEO, UVM Health Executive Vice President of Clinical Affairs, and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the University of Vermont. 

Although he will be profoundly missed here at OU, Provost Sanders has certainly proven himself worthy of this incredible opportunity. Provost Sanders has held leadership positions at the Health Sciences Center since 2013, including serving as HSC’s Interim Provost before officially being appointed in December 2015. Over the last six years, the Health Sciences Center campus has achieved milestones in research and clinical care while providing multi-disciplinary health education opportunities for our students. Provost Sanders has prioritized the expansion of interprofessional education across our HSC colleges, where our students and residents across all health disciplines learn alongside each other to provide patient care as an interdisciplinary team. Additionally, since his appointment as Provost in 2015, over 300 Graduate Medical Education residency positions were sustained in 2018 through a funding partnership with the state, and last spring we expanded 90 new residency positions; NIH funding has increased by 64%; and in FY2021, HSC received $86.8 million in NIH funding, which translates to $269 million in state economic activity and 1,951 state jobs supported by this funding. Near the beginning of Provost Sanders’ tenure, our Stephenson Cancer Center team reached the No. 1 ranking among all cancer centers in the nation for the number of patients participating in NCI-sponsored clinical trials – and in 2018 achieved NCI designation, a distinction awarded to the top 2% of cancer centers. The breadth of research being generated by HSC researchers is vast and impactful, and the progress we have achieved is thanks in large part to Provost Sanders, his leadership, and the leadership team of HSC.

Beyond these efforts, perhaps Provost Sanders’ greatest contribution to advance health care in our state is the countless number of hours he has poured into what has ultimately become Oklahoma’s first comprehensive academic health system – OU Health. The work that led to this historic merger began several years ago, with Provost Sanders being a pivotal leader in the buy-out and transition of the academic hospital system to local, non-profit management in February 2018. Provost Sanders served on the OU Medicine Board of Directors at the outset, first as Vice Chair and then as Acting Chair. More recently, Provost Sanders has played a transformative role in shepherding the recent integration of the College of Medicine faculty practice with the OU Medicine hospitals – a crucial step in forming the beginning of a fully integrated academic health system, OU Health. Since July 1, Provost Sanders has served as co-chair of the OU Health Board of Directors and worked closely with OU Health leaders to ensure a successful transition of our College of Medicine faculty practice into their new clinical home within OU Health, OU Health Partners. Our university, our health care enterprise, and our entire state will be the beneficiaries of Provost Sanders’ dedication and service in the decades to come.

Well before his roles in health care leadership, Provost Sanders distinguished himself as an undergraduate at OU, earning a Rhodes Scholarship before pursuing his M.D. and MBA at Harvard. Though we are sad to see him go, we are remarkably proud that someone who truly embodies OU excellence was selected for this new endeavor.

Our search for our next Senior Vice President and Provost for the Health Sciences Center campus will begin immediately. In the meantime, pending approval by the OU Board of Regents, Dr. Gary Raskob, Dean of the Hudson College of Public Health and Regents Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine, will serve as interim. Dr. Raskob, who this fall celebrated his 30^th anniversary at the University of Oklahoma, is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on thrombosis and antithrombotic therapy. During his career, he has held several national leadership roles in the field of public health, including serving as an advisor to the CDC. His career at OU began in 1991 and through the years has seen progressive leadership responsibilities, being named dean in 2002. As dean, Dr. Raskob has championed the growth and stature of the college, with extramural grant and contract funding seeing an increase by more than fourfold, and the college earning national recognition as a top 10 program in academic public health by College Magazine. The Hudson College of Public Health has seen incredible fundraising success, including the creation of 30 endowed scholarships, a leadership gift securing the college’s naming, and substantial increases in student financial support, with more than $1 million in financial assistance given to students this academic year. Dr. Raskob will focus on the completion of the OU Health Sciences Center Strategic Plan, growing the health care workforce pipeline for the state of Oklahoma, our academic and research partnership with OU Health, and evaluation of our clinical research infrastructure in order to take OUHSC to new heights in the national research landscape. We are thrilled and thankful that Dr. Raskob has agreed to serve as Interim Senior Vice President and Provost for the OU Health Sciences Center during this period of transition.

Please join me in thanking Provost Sanders for his exceptional service and leadership, and in wishing congratulations to Dr. Raskob on his new appointment. 

Live On, University,

Joseph Harroz, Jr.

President