Dr. A. Wesley Burks appointed CEO of UNC Health Care, dean of School of Medicine
Dr. A. Wesley Burks is currently the executive dean for the UNC School of Medicine and a member of UNC Health Care’s senior leadership team.
Dear Carolina Community:
We are pleased to share that today the UNC Board of Governors appointed Dr. A. Wesley Burks CEO of UNC Health Care, Dean of the UNC School of Medicine, and vice chancellor for medical affairs. Currently Executive Dean for the UNC School of Medicine and a member of UNC Health Care’s senior leadership team, Wesley succeeds Dr. William Roper, who earlier this year announced his plans to step down from his position, and has since been appointed interim president of the UNC System. Wesley will assume his new role January 15.
We are extremely fortunate to be able to fill this critical position quickly and with someone who is already intimately familiar with the School of Medicine and the Health Care System. Since joining the UNC System in November 2011, Wesley has distinguished himself as a thoughtful academic leader, a congenial colleague, and a talented physician researcher. As executive dean, Wesley was instrumental in helping transform UNC Health Care and the UNC School of Medicine into one of the nation’s top academic medical institutions, with more than a dozen hospitals, more than 30,000 employees and nearly $5 billion in annual revenue. In this role, he provided overall academic leadership for the School of Medicine and the UNC Health Care System, working in close partnership with leaders from both institutions.
Wesley is also a world-renowned pediatric allergist and immunologist, who holds the Curnen Distinguished Professorship in the School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. Internationally recognized as a leader in the field of food hypersensitivity, Wesley seeks to understand the mechanism of food allergies, improve their diagnosis in children and develop immune therapies for them. He recently led a research team that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine for developing the world’s first treatment for potentially fatal peanut allergies.
A graduate of the University of Central Arkansas and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Wesley completed a pediatric residency at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital and subsequently completed a fellowship in allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center. He was previously on the faculty at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Duke University Medical Center.
Please join us in congratulating Wesley on his appointment.
Sincerely,
Margaret Spellings
President, UNC System
Carol L. Folt
Chancellor, UNC-Chapel Hill
Charlie Owen
Chair, UNC Health Care Board of Directors
