Leslie Petch Lee, assistant dean for curriculum at the Georgia Regents University/UGA Medical Partnership, has been named its interim campus dean, effective May 13.
“There is a strong consensus that Dr. Lee, who has served as a leader at the partnership campus essentially from its beginning, is a terrific choice for interim campus dean,” said Dr. Peter F. Buckley, dean of the Medical College of Georgia at GRU. “Her knowledge of the faculty, staff and students, who are integral to the partnership’s function and purpose, will ensure continued progress as the national search for a permanent campus dean progresses and as we continue to prepare for our medical school reaccreditation.”
Lee, who joined UGA in 2005 and also has an MCG faculty appointment, became involved in the early planning and development of the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership in 2007 and was appointed coordinator for the first- and second-year curriculum—known as phases 1 and 2—for the medical partnership in 2008. She became assistant dean for curriculum in 2010, a position in which she oversees the development and implementation of the phase 1 and 2 curriculum. She also represents the medical partnership on the MCG Instructional Technology Advisory Committee, the Phase 1 and 2 Curriculum Committee, the Curriculum Oversight Committee, the Admissions Committee and the Executive Committee for Reaccreditation.
“Dr. Lee has helped guide the growth and progress of the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership since its founding, and I am confident that she will provide outstanding leadership while the national search for the next permanent campus dean continues,” said Pamela Whitten, UGA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
Lee was previously associate director of the Virology Core Facility at the Center for AIDS Research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She earned her doctorate in pharmacology from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Dr. Barbara Schuster, inaugural campus dean, will step down May 12 after nearly seven years of leadership. Houston Davis, University System of Georgia executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, is chairing a 15-member search committee that is conducting a national search for the next permanent campus dean of the medical partnership.