New Deans for Colleges of Medicine, Architecture

New Deans for Colleges of Medicine, Architecture

By University Relations - Communications
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Dr. Charles B. Cairns
Dr. Charles B. Cairns

The UA has announced the appointment of three new college deans.

Dr. Charles B. Cairns has been named the permanent dean of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson after serving since February 2015 as interim dean.

Dr. Kenneth S. Ramos has been named the interim dean of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix, effective Monday.

Mary Hardin has been named the interim dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, effective June 1.

Cairns, whose appointment as permanent dean was effective Monday, is a nationally recognized leader in emergency medicine and critical care research.

"As interim dean for the past 14 months, Dr. Cairns has provided outstanding leadership stability and played a critical role in the transition of the college's clinical practice group under the University's Academic Affiliation Agreement with Banner Health," said Dr. Joe G.N. "Skip" Garcia, UA senior vice president for health sciences. "His leadership skills and passion for academic excellence have been recognized and embraced by everyone at the college and by our colleagues within the University and from Banner Health."

Cairns joined the UA Health Sciences in November 2014 as assistant vice president for clinical research and clinical trials, vice dean of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson, and professor in the UA Department of Emergency Medicine.

His research interests include the host response to acute infections, illness and injury; trauma, cardiac and pulmonary resuscitation; and systems of emergency and critical care. He has served as the principal investigator of the National Collaborative for Bio-Preparedness, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He currently is the director of the U.S. Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"It is an exceptional honor to be asked to serve as the eighth dean of the College of Medicine – Tucson, following in the leadership footsteps of such icons as Merlin DuVal and James Dalen," Cairns said. "The faculty, staff and trainees of the college are an incredibly talented group who demonstrate daily a passion for discovery and excellence across our tripartite mission. It is my privilege to be a part of the outstanding University of Arizona Health Sciences leadership team and to contribute to the further advancement of the College of Medicine – Tucson."

Prior to joining the UA, Cairns was professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. There, he served in leadership roles in medical education and curriculum reform, health information technology strategy, university system campus security and health care system strategic planning. Prior to that, he served as associate chief of emergency medicine at Duke University Medical Center and director of emergency medicine research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Cairns has published more than 160 scientific articles and reviews. His work has appeared in such prestigious journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Academic Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, among others. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Emergency Medicine Foundation Established Investigator Award, the American College of Emergency Physicians Outstanding Contribution in Research Award and the 2014 John Marx Leadership Award, the highest award of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. He also has served in several leadership positions in emergency and critical care medicine organizations.

Cairns is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College and was a Holderness Medical Fellow at the University of North Carolina, where he received the Medical Faculty Award as the outstanding graduating medical student. He completed an emergency medicine residency and EMF Research Fellowship at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He received postgraduate training in the Program in Genetics of Complex Diseases at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, and the Health Care Leadership Academy at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina. Cairns is board-certified in emergency medicine, a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and a fellow of the American Heart Association.

You can read the full announcement of his appointment here.


Dr. Kenneth S. Ramos
Dr. Kenneth S. Ramos

Ramos will assume the role of interim dean of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix on Monday.

He succeeds Dr. Stuart Flynn, who has accepted the position of founding dean of a medical school launching in Fort Worth, Texas to be operated jointly by Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas Health Science Center. A national search will be conducted for a permanent dean.

Ramos currently serves as UA Health Sciences associate vice president for precision health sciences and director of the Center for Applied Genetics and Genomic Medicine.

He also has served as director of the College of Medicine – Tucson's MD/Ph.D. program and was co-principal investigator of the UAHS Clinical and Translational Sciences Award application last January.

"Dr. Ramos possesses all of the qualities essential for serving in this important interim leadership capacity," said Dr. Skip Garcia, senior vice president for health sciences. "He is an academician of the highest caliber, having been elected to the National Academy of Medicine this past October. He has a depth of experience across the tripartite mission areas of education, research and clinical service, is a thoughtful listener, and a consensus builder."


Mary Hardin
Mary Hardin

Hardin will assume the role of interim dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture on June 1.

She will succeed dean Janice Cervelli, who is leaving the UA for the position of president of St. Mary's College in Indiana. A national search will be conducted for a permanent dean.

Hardin currently serves as associate dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture and a professor in the college's School of Architecture. She specializes in teaching design-build studios and the materials and methods of construction. Her research interests include affordable housing design, energy and water conserving technologies for affordable housing, and the adaptation of rammed earth production methods for low-cost housing.

Hardin has received state and national recognition for her work. She practiced architecture with several firms in Austin, Texas, and taught as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Architecture at the University of Texas, Austin, in 1984, after receiving her professional degree from there. She also taught at Arizona State University before joining the UA in 1997.

"From my interactions with CAPLA (College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture) faculty and staff it is clear to me that professor Hardin is widely respected and admired for her leadership achievements, and I am confident that she will do an outstanding job of leading CAPLA in the coming year as we search for a new dean," said Andrew Comrie, UA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. "It is important that CAPLA continue its success with dynamic programs and building its national and international preeminence in sustainable design and planning for arid and semi-arid regions."

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