Chancellor Makes Interim Health Sciences Appointments
East Carolina University Chancellor Richard R. Eakin has appointed two senior university officials to succeed on an interim basis Dr. James A. Hallock, vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the Brody School of Medicine, who will be leaving the university in January.
Dr. Ann Jobe, senior associate dean of the medical school and assistant vice chancellor for health sciences, will become interim vice chancellor upon Hallock’s departure. The position is responsible for leading the ECU Division of Health Sciences, which encompasses the medical school, the Schools of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, and the Health Sciences Library.
ECU Chancellor Richard R. Eakin (second from left) congratulates Drs. Peter Kragel and Ann Jobe on their new interim roles, as Dr. James A. Hallock, vice chancellor for health sciences and medical dean, looks on at left.
Dr. Peter Kragel, the chairman of the medical school’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will become interim dean. The dean has the responsibility of managing the medical school’s academic, research and patient care programs and its 1,900 employees. Kragel will continue as pathology chairman.
Except for a two-year period in the late 1980s, the positions of health sciences vice chancellor and medical school dean have been jointly held by a single individual. Eakin said he decided to separate the positions at this point because doing so will permit a more effective distribution of the workload and will provide greater flexibility when the search is conducted for Hallock’s permanent replacement(s). Although the appointments do not take effect until mid-January, Eakin said Jobe and Kragel will immediately begin a transition in which they “will work side by side with Dr. Hallock.”
“Both Ann and Peter have demonstrated splendid administrative capacities and have earned the respect of their colleagues for their service to the university and the Brody School of Medicine,” Eakin said. “I am pleased that they have accepted these new challenges at a critical time in the planning for a consolidated health sciences campus in west Greenville.”
Jobe is a veteran faculty member and administrator at the medical school. A family physician who continues to see patients and teach despite her administrative duties, she was assistant dean for student affairs before becoming senior associate dean. Jobe is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont and holds a master of science in nursing degree from the University of Minnesota. She earned her medical degree from the University of Nevada and completed a family medicine residency at Florida Hospital in Orlando. She joined the university in 1989 and was appointed associate vice chancellor for health sciences in 1998.
Kragel, in his third year at the medical school, has quickly assumed a leadership role on the school’s executive committee and has successfully taken on a number of special projects. Originally from Pennsylvania, Kragel earned his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Georgetown University. He completed his combined anatomic and clinical pathology residency training at the University of Maryland Hospital. In addition to his role as departmental chair, he is chief of pathology at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. Dave McRae, chief executive officer of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, which has a special relationship with the medical school and the university’s health sciences programs, praised the appointments.
“Pitt County Memorial Hospital in particular is a major partner with the university in educating health professions students and providing clinical services to patients,” said McRae. “Peter Kragel has worked closely with us as chief of pathology and demonstrated unique talents that make him a superb choice for this role. We are equally pleased that Ann Jobe, who has shown such strength and commitment to health professions students over the years, will be leading the overall health sciences programs.