Welcome to Jacksonville
New vice president, Medicine dean named for UF’s Jacksonville campus
By John Pastor
After an extensive national search, Daniel R. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., has been named vice president of the UF Health Science Center-Jacksonville and dean of the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville.
Wilson, chairman of psychiatry at Creighton University for the past 11 years, was chosen for his leadership, international reputation and sustained academic excellence, announced David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., UF senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System. He will begin Feb. 1, replacing Robert C. Nuss, M.D., who is retiring.
Dr. Daniel Wilson
“Dr. Wilson is highly skilled in patient care, research and teaching,” Guzick said. “Combined with his extensive leadership and management experience, which ranges from department chair to medical director of a large hospital system, he will serve the Jacksonville campus well and continue the tradition of excellence that Dr. Nuss established during an incredible 40-year career of medical leadership and clinical excellence.”
Wilson, also a professor of psychiatry, neurology and anthropology at Creighton University, has a strong research track record, with more than 50 grants as principal investigator, including two current National Institutes of Health awards. While his primary focus is forensic psychiatry, Wilson’s research agenda ranges from pharmaceutical development to treatment of mood, psychosis and posttraumatic stress disorders.
Prior to his appointments at Creighton, Wilson served as a professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, where he directed the University Institute for Medicine & Law.
Wilson received his undergraduate degree in anthropology from Yale, his medical degree from the University of Iowa and a diploma in mental health leadership from Case Western Reserve University. He completed residency in psychiatry as a joint appointee of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General & McLean Hospitals. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in biological anthropology at Queens’ College, Cambridge University in Cambridge, England.
Wilson has been named a Sleyster Scholar of the American Medical Association, a Falk Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Rotary Fellow for Cambridge University, Life Fellow of the International Society of Police Surgeons, and Overseas Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He is currently president of the American Neuropsychiatric Association and a councilor of the World Psychiatric Association.
Wilson will follow Nuss, who has been dean of the Jacksonville campus since 2002. A professor of obstetrics and gynecology, with certification in the specialty of gynecologic oncology. During his tenure, he worked with hospital leaders to develop a mature and financially stable academic health center at UF&Shands Jacksonville. In addition, he created a vibrant practice plan with more than 600,000 outpatient visits and more than 34,000 inpatient admissions annually. In the past five years, externally funded research has grown by 200 percent at the Jacksonville campus, which now enjoys full partnership in UF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute.
“I have been privileged to enjoy a strong working relationship with Dr. Bob Nuss during his 10 years as dean. I look forward to having the same with Dr. Dan Wilson,” said James R. Burkhart, president and chief executive officer of Shands Jacksonville. “We are all excited about the experience and background that he brings to UF&Shands and look forward to the same vital partnership that has allowed us to excel over the past 10 years.”
David J. Vukich, chair of the search committee and senior associate dean of hospital affairs at Jacksonville, said Wilson was exceptional among a field that contained dozens of highly qualified candidates.
“Dr. Wilson was the standout, bringing a great combination of insight, experience and maturity. It will be a pleasure working with him,” Vukich said. “This campus has gained so much under Dr. Nuss’ strong leadership that we will never be able to thank him adequately. Many of us have benefited personally by his mentoring and teaching, and it is indeed a great legacy that he leaves. Dr. Wilson is up to the task, however.”