Dean Krugman to step down at School of Medicine

Richard D. Krugman, M.D., University of Colorado vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, announced in his Monday email to campus that he has asked the university’s leadership to begin the process of hiring his successor.

Krugman became dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine on March 1, 1992, after serving as acting dean for 20 months. His is currently the longest-serving dean of a medical school in the United States.

He came to the School of Medicine in July 1968 as an intern in pediatrics. He completed his residency at the School of Medicine and joined the faculty in 1973. In 1981, he became director of the C. Henry Kempe National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect.

In an announcement to the university, Don Elliman, chancellor for the University of Colorado Denver and Lilly Marks, University of Colorado vice president for health affairs and executive vice chancellor of the Anschutz Medical Campus, thanked Krugman for serving with distinction as dean for more than two decades and said they will soon form a committee to conduct a nationwide search.

“Dr. Krugman is an outstanding colleague, a valued administrator and a treasured friend,” Elliman and Marks wrote. “His passionate and effective leadership has helped build one of the premier centers of academic medicine in the country, a school that consistently ranks among the top 10 public medical schools in grants from the National Institutes of Health and is a leader in research, learning and clinical care. His careful stewardship has attracted top talent from across the country and fostered a culture of respect. It is a legacy that will pay dividends for Colorado and future generations of physicians and researchers.

“We are fortunate that Dr. Krugman will not be leaving the university after he retires as dean,” they continued. “He says he plans to return to the Kempe Center in the Department of Pediatrics and pursue the long-deferred projects he put on hold in 1990. We thank him for his many years of outstanding service to our university, we look forward to his ongoing scholarship and we wish him the very best.”