It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of John M. Carethers, M.D., as vice chancellor for Health Sciences (VCHS), effective January 1, 2023. Dr. Carethers will report directly to the chancellor and will be part of the Chancellor's Cabinet.
Dr. Carethers joins UC San Diego from a 13-year tenure at the University of Michigan, where he served as the C. Richard Boland Distinguished University Professor and the John G. Searle Professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. He oversaw a $400M+ annual budget, 930 faculty, 1,000+ departmental staff, $250M in annual external research grants and contracts, and the integration of the department within the $5.8B University of Michigan Health System.
Before the University of Michigan, Dr. Carethers spent nearly 15 years at UC San Diego School of Medicine, eventually serving as chief of the Division of Gastroenterology. As a division chief, he doubled the size of the faculty, more than doubled the clinical wRVUs produced by the division, and doubled the division’s NIH-funded portfolio. He extended the gastroenterology fellowship program to U.S. Navy Hospital, Kaiser Permanente and Scripps Green Hospital trainees and expanded the division’s NIH T32 grant to include pediatric gastroenterology. He secured an inaugural NIH-funded Gastroenterology Center Grant that allowed the division to grow scientifically and partner with other local institutions such as the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (formerly the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology), Scripps Research Institute and the Burnham Institute.
On the national scene, Dr. Carethers has served as the president for both the Association of American Physicians and the American Gastroenterological Association. He served as chair of the Minorities in Research Council of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), developed and co-chaired the programming for the eighth and 10th Science of Cancer Health Disparities conferences, and commenced and contributed to the inaugural (2020) and subsequent (2022) AACR Cancer Health Disparities Report and its presentation to the United States Congress. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
As vice chancellor, Dr. Carethers will focus on the overarching strategy for all of Health Sciences, working with the chancellor, campus and health system leadership on expanding UC San Diego Health’s clinical enterprise, fostering research collaborations, enhancing educational opportunities, and expanding philanthropic participation. Health Sciences includes the School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, and UC San Diego Health.
I sincerely thank Michelle Daniel, MD, MHPE, FACEP, vice dean for medical education and professor of emergency medicine, and Gabriel Haddad, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics, physician-in-chief and chief scientific officer at Rady Children’s San Diego, for providing exceptional leadership as co-chairs of the search advisory committee and for ensuring that all voices were heard during the search process. I am also grateful to the members of the search advisory committee and wide-ranging input from members of the campus community for their thoughtful contributions and insights, which have resulted in a successful conclusion to the search.
Please join me in warmly welcoming Dr. Carethers back to UC San Diego. His collaborative approach, deep expertise and leadership will continue to expand and diversify the global prestige and distinction of our university’s health sciences.
