Dan W. Rahn, MD, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) since 2009, has announced that he plans to retire effective July 31, 2017. University of Arkansas System President Donald R. Bobbitt, PhD, will form a search committee to find Rahn’s successor.
During Rahn’s tenure at UAMS, the state’s only academic health sciences university and largest public employer, has undergone a significant transformation, expanding educational, clinical, and research programs across the state of Arkansas.
Rahn became chancellor of UAMS on Nov. 1, 2009, coming to Arkansas from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, where he served as president for eight years and as senior vice chancellor for health and medical programs for the University System of Georgia.
In 2009, UAMS had a $48 million budget deficit. Since that time, Rahn has led a university-wide initiative to improve efficiencies, cost effectiveness and performance, saving more than $100 million. He has overseen the reorganization of clinical programs into service lines focused on providing care centered on patients and families.
Educational degree programs at UAMS and student numbers have grown significantly under Rahn’s leadership especially with the addition of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Campus in Fayetteville. Today, UAMS has 75 degree and certificate programs and educates the majority of the state’s physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other health care professionals.
During his time as chancellor, Rahn has worked with UAMS leaders and state officials to enhance or add programs that are critical to the state. Those have included the designation of UAMS as the state’s only adult Level One Trauma Center, the growth of telemedicine programs across the state, the growth of primary care and geriatric programs operated through UAMS’ regional centers and partnerships with other providers, and the addition of educational programs including a doctorate of nursing practice, doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, physician assistant and physical therapy degree programs.
Under his leadership, UAMS has also focused on improving the health of underserved populations by establishing programs such as the Center for Pacific Islander Health in Fayetteville and the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center in Little Rock.
Since Rahn became chancellor, UAMS has strengthened its statewide presence and programs, increasing programs and services at its campus in northwest Arkansas and opening new or upgraded facilities for regional centers and family medical centers in Texarkana, Jonesboro and Fort Smith.
Oral health is a major problem in Arkansas, which ranks at the bottom in the nation. To help address this problem, Rahn has championed the development of a Dental Center and a dental residency program at UAMS, and is leading the formal planning process for the first College of Dentistry in Arkansas.
He has worked tirelessly to share the expertise of UAMS through partnerships across the state. He works closely with leaders at UAMS affiliates Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, where UAMS physicians provide the majority of care to patients and conduct research.
He has forged stronger relationships between UAMS and other healthcare providers and has led efforts to establish new medical residency programs across Arkansas to help address the physician shortage. Another example of his collaborative leadership was his role in the formation of the Partnership for a Healthy Arkansas, an affiliation between UAMS, Baptist Health, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, St. Bernard’s Healthcare in Jonesboro, and Washington Regional Medical Center in northwest Arkansas.
Rahn was instrumental in the success of the Arkansas Research Alliance and serves on the board of this public-private partnership, which invests in research that stimulates innovation, encourages collaboration and strengthens economic opportunity for the state.
Rahn has served as an advisor on health policy to both Gov. Mike Beebe and Gov. Asa Hutchinson and served on Hutchinson’s Advisory Council on Medicaid Reform.
In 2011-2012, in cooperation with the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, Rahn co-chaired a core group of health professionals to propose recommendations to address healthcare workforce shortages. Implementation of the group’s proposals is ongoing and includes moving to patient-centered, team-based care; increasing the use of health information technology; improving the distribution of primary care services; and adopting new financing, payment and reimbursement policies.
As an administrator, Rahn is nationally recognized for his work on workforce shortages in health professions. He is a member of the Association of Academic Health Centers and led its Health Workforce Shortages Advisory Committee. He was also recently honored by the American College of Physicians with the award of Mastership of the College (MACP), one of only two Arkansas physicians to receive the designation.
A native of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Rahn is a graduate of Yale University and the Yale University School of Medicine, where he later began his professional career as director of the Lyme Disease Program, director of clinical training in rheumatology and director of faculty practice for the Department of Internal Medicine.