Dear Members of the School of Medicine,
I write to you today with mixed emotions. I am excited to share that I have accepted the position of President at UTHealth Houston, a role I will begin on Monday, September 8, 2025. While I am truly honored by this opportunity and energized by the path ahead, it is incredibly difficult to step away from people I hold in the highest regard. My final day as Dean of the UVA School of Medicine will be Wednesday, September 3, 2025.
It has been a true honor and privilege to serve as your Dean of the UVA School of Medicine for the past four years. When I was first recruited into the role, I felt a profound sense of pride and responsibility, coming to serve and lead a school with such a rich legacy of excellence. Today, I leave with deep gratitude and a strong sense of fulfillment—thanks entirely to all of you.
Your collective partnership, dedication, and innumerable contributions have made our endeavors some of the most meaningful work in my career. Together, we have accomplished some truly remarkable successes including significantly growing the size and impact of our research portfolio; achieving a full eight year re-accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the longest duration of accreditation a medical school can receive; establishing our new Department of Genome Sciences along with a new degree granting program in computational biology; significantly growing the size of the BIMS graduate student program; establishing two new Centers; creating the new Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology with the University; achieving record breaking increases in philanthropy for each of the past three years, with $147M donated to the School of Medicine for FY25 alone; establishing new scholarship funds which allow our medical students to graduate with some of the lowest debt in the country; developing a collaborative working relationship with leadership in UPG, including the development of consolidated financials; hiring over 550 extremely talented faculty and 16 outstanding Chairs who are leading our Departments to new heights; and expanding our clinical services across the Commonwealth. These accomplishments, and many others, reflect your shared commitment to excellence and innovation. You represent the incredibly bright future of the UVA School of Medicine, and I will deeply miss working alongside you.
In closing, I want to express my heartfelt thanks. Serving as your Dean has been an extraordinary honor, made all the more meaningful by the opportunity to collaborate with such a passionate and talented community—faculty, staff, students, and alumni alike. You inspire me every day through your unwavering dedication to advancing education, research, and patient care. I will continue to cheer you on from afar and look forward to celebrating your continued success in the years ahead.
With sincere gratitude,
Melina R. Kibbe, MD
Dean, UVA School of Medicine
James Carroll Flippin Professor of Medical Science
Chief Health Affairs Officer, UVA Health
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