UTMC exec up for similar job

Gold interviews for chancellor at University of Nebraska Medical Center

11/23/2013

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THE BLADE
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The head of the University of Toledo Medical Center may be leaving to take a similar position in Nebraska.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold is expected to return to Toledo today after spending the entire day Friday interviewing for the top spot at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Dr. Gold, chancellor and vice president for biosciences and health affairs, as well as executive dean of the medical college at the former Medical College of Ohio, is the last candidate in the running for the position of chancellor at the Nebraska medical center, said Melissa Lee, a University of Nebraska spokesman.

He met with university leaders and search committee members last month, and then Friday he had a series of interviews at the medical center, including a public forum where he shared his vision for UNMC, Ms. Lee said.

When reached by telephone Friday, Dr. Gold said he was unable to talk at that time but confirmed he was interviewing.

Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of the University of Toledo, said he was aware that Dr. Gold was interviewing for the position and that over the course of the last couple of years, Dr. Gold has looked at a number of positions.

“Jeff Gold has made a remarkable contribution to this institution,” Dr. Jacobs said. “I’m always proud when somebody else wants to recruit one of our top leaders. I’m hoping he doesn’t leave but if he does, he will have my strongest support.”

People in leadership positions tend to move around to find new challenges and new opportunities to grow, said Dr. Jacobs, who said he receives a call from a head hunter nearly every week but that he likes UT and isn’t looking to leave.

Dr. Gold came to Toledo in May, 2005, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine-Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, where he was professor and chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery. He was part of a team that oversaw the 2006 merger of the former MCO and UTMC. Dr. Jacobs credits him with dramatically raising the stature of the medical center.

“The United States Medical Licensing Examination scores of our students are tops in the entire country. He and his team are responsible for that,” Dr. Jacobs said.

He also said Dr. Gold was responsible for the hospital’s increase in ranking this year in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospital rankings. According to the Web site, the magazine ranked UTMC the 22nd best hospital in Ohio in 2013.

Dr. Gold was also at the helm of UTMC when it faced a major controversy concerning a South Toledo woman whose brother’s kidney was accidentally thrown away before it could be implanted into her during a surgery last year at the hospital. There is an ongoing lawsuit between the transplant patient and the medical center.

Live-donor kidney transplants were suspended voluntarily at the hospital after the incident. A bevy of policy and procedure reviews at the medical center and site visits by oversight bodies followed. The live kidney transplant program has resumed.

The Nebraska Medical Center is in Omaha, on one of four campuses of the larger University of Nebraska.

If Dr. Gold is tapped for the position, he would report to the university’s president.

The current UNMC chancellor, Dr. Harold Maurer, is paid $461,102 a year, Ms. Lee said.

University of Nebraska officials said they have no timetable to fill the role.

Contact Marlene Harris-Taylor at: mtaylor@theblade.com or 419-724-6091.