The University of Arizona Foundation has hired Shaun O. Sommerer as vice president for Arizona Health Sciences development.

The office of the vice president for development directs and facilitates efforts to build relationships and raise funds from private sources to support the priorities of health sciences programs at the UA.

Sommerer, who is succeeding Bryan Rowland, previously served as the associate vice president of development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where his responsibilities included oversight of the UNLV Division of Health Sciences Development.

After receiving his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Florida in 1991, Sommerer served as assistant professor of chemistry at Pennsylvania State University, Erie campus. He later worked as associate chair of physical sciences and director of research at Barry University in Florida. He has written more than 40 research articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals.

Sommerer has nearly 12 years of successful fundraising experience in public and private higher education. He has done major gifts work at St. John's University and has served as regional director of major and planned gifts for the University of Michigan.

"We are absolutely delighted that Shaun Sommerer has joined our team at the Arizona Health Sciences Center,” said Dr. William M. Crist, UA vice president for health affairs. "He not only brings a tremendous fundraising background, but also offers the experience and perspective of a scientist, which uniquely qualifies him for this position. We know that during these tough economic times support from individuals, foundations, corporations and other sources will become increasingly important to the future success of the Arizona Health Sciences Center.”

The Arizona Health Sciences Center at the UA includes the colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and public health, and their affiliated centers of excellence, plus University Medical Center and University Physicians Healthcare, and it continues to have a growing presence on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix.

The UA Foundation is one of the largest foundations in Arizona, raising more than $100 million annually. Managing an asset base of nearly $500 million, the UA Foundation has helped generate more than $2 billion in private funding to support the UA since 1958. Learn more on the UA Foundation Web site.