July 29, 2010

Ray Watts. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Ray L. Watts, M.D., has been named senior vice president for Medicine of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and dean of the School of Medicine at UAB today, July 29, 2010, after a nationwide search. His appointment will begin Oct. 1, 2010.

"After a thorough national search that resulted in many excellent candidates, the very best fit for UAB came from within," said UAB President Carol Garrison.

Watts, 56, was born in Birmingham. He currently holds the John N. Whitaker Endowed Chair in Neurology and chairs the Department of Neurology. An internationally renowned leader in Parkinson's disease research and care, he also is the chief of the Neurology Service for UAB Hospital and president of the UAB Health Services Foundation. Between January and September 2008, Watts served as interim chief executive officer of the UAB Health System.

"In today's environment, medical schools must prepare tomorrow's physicians for many challenges, while also supporting their faculty in sustaining excellence in patient care and research," Garrison said. "Dr. Watts has consistently demonstrated superior leadership in the academic, executive, clinical and scientific realms.

"I am confident that, working with our outstanding faculty, he will continue to raise the level of excellence for medicine at UAB, which benefits our immediate community and the State of Alabama and extends to a national and global reach," she said.

Watts takes over the position held since 2004 by Robert R. Rich, M.D., who announced last year he would step down once a successor could be named. Garrison praised Rich, saying "We are very grateful to Bob Rich for the many important accomplishments during his tenure."

Watts also acknowledged Rich's leadership, and said he is "honored and very pleased" to have been chosen as the dean and senior vice president for UAB's School of Medicine.

"It has been my privilege during this search process to learn and listen to the concerns and aspirations of our students, our research faculty, our clinicians and our supporters in the community," he said. "I know that, if we all work together, we can achieve great things."

Watts received his bachelor's degree in engineering (biomedical and electrical) from UAB in 1976, where he was a Merit Scholar. He received his medical degree from the Washington University School of Medicine in 1980; he was valedictorian of both his undergraduate and medical school classes. He completed a residency in neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (he was chief resident in 1984) and clinical fellowships at Harvard Medical School. Between 1984 and 1986 he was a fellow of motor control and movement disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health.

In 1986 Watts was named to the neurology faculty at Emory University, where he became professor and vice-chairman of the department in 1998. In July 2003 he was named professor and chair of UAB's Department of Neurology, and in December of 2003 was appointed to the endowed chair position.

Watts has published widely about experimental therapeutics for Parkinson's disease. Since 1997 he has co-edited the textbook Movement Disorders: Neurologic Principles and Practice, the third edition of which will be published in 2011.

During his tenure as dean of the School of Medicine at UAB, Rich oversaw the development in 2006 of a research strategic plan that led to a $25 million annual increase in funding from the National Institutes of Health. He also engineered a program to fund the recruitment and retention of top medical faculty and led a complete overhaul of the school's curriculum. Rich will be returning to the medical faculty.

About UAB and the UAB Health System

Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center whose professional schools and specialty patient care programs are consistently ranked as among the nation's top 50. The UAB Health System includes all of UAB's patient care activities, including UAB Hospital, the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital and The Kirklin Clinic. Find more information at www.uab.edu and www.uabmedicine.org.