Medical school dean announces retirement, new role

Medicine and health programs lifted up in new assignment within provost’s office

(Sept. 14, 2011 – Athens, OH)  The family practice physician who spearheaded the effort that resulted in the largest single gift ever to a public institution of higher education in Ohio today announced plans to assume a new leadership role within Ohio University.

Jack Brose, D.O., dean of the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM) and executive dean for health affairs at Ohio University, told faculty, staff, students and guests during his annual State of the College address he will be retiring as dean as of July 1, 2012, and continuing his faculty role at the medical school under the university’s faculty early retirement program.

At the request of Pam Benoit, Ohio University Executive Vice-President and Provost, he will also assume new responsibilities within her office as the university’s senior executive director for health services and special assistant to the executive vice president and provost. 

In this capacity, Dr. Brose will advise and support the Provost’s Office on the development of the recently approved central Ohio regional extension campus.  The campus will allow Ohio University to expand the training of primary care physicians and explore new health care partnerships in the state.

“This is an important time of growth for health-related disciplines at Ohio University,” said Dr. Benoit. “I know that Jack will apply the great skill and dedication that he brought to his work as dean to his new assignment.  I am very pleased that the university will be able to depend upon his ability to be a creative and strategic leader and to build on the relationships that he has established across the university and the state.”

“I want to take on some new challenges, and I’m also looking forward to spending a bit more time teaching and with my wife and grandchildren,” said Dr. Brose. “It’s an exciting time at the college, and I am pleased to contribute as we move forward to realize the University’s potential in health care education.”

In 2009, Dr. Brose initiated a strategic planning process for the college’s next 10 years that culminated last April with the announcement of a $105 million gift to the medical school from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations.

The gift, the fifth largest ever given to a medical school in the United States, will be used to open an OU-HCOM regional extension campus in central Ohio by 2014 that will accommodate an additional 50 students per class. The gift will also be used to help build a new Diabetes/Endocrine Clinical Treatment Research Center and a new facility for the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute, both on the Athens campus. The award will also fund a major transformation of the college’s curriculum, and it provides money for new scholarships and loan forgiveness programs for graduates who commit to practicing primary care in underserved areas of Ohio.

Dr. Benoit indicated that a search would be conducted during the academic year for a new OU-HCOM dean.  “We hope to have a faculty-led search committee appointed by mid-October, on-campus interviews in March and April, and the selection of a dean in May.”

Dr. Brose was named the college’s fifth dean in November of 2001. He came to the college in 1982 as an assistant professor of family medicine and was promoted to full professor in 1993. He has served as director of the Pre-doctoral Family Medicine Fellowship Program, associate chair of the Department of Family Medicine, assistant dean for Educational Development and Research, and Assistant Dean for Clinical Research.

During his tenure as dean, Dr. Brose oversaw a 40 percent increase in the college’s enrollment, redevelopment of the college curriculum, and construction of new facilities and renovations of many of OU-HCOM’s existing facilities, including the $34.5 million, 89,000-square-foot Osteopathic Heritage Foundations and Charles R. and Marilyn Y. Stuckey Academic & Research Center; the opening of the Life Sciences Research Facility; and in 2011, the Heritage Clinical Training and Assessment Center & Community Clinic.  

Under Dr. Brose’s leadership, OU-HCOM completed the necessary privatization of the college’s faculty physician practice, which became University Medical Associates, and last year took responsibility for Ohio University’s student health services, now known as Campus Care. Also, the college’s system of teaching hospitals across the state, the Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education, doubled in size from 12 to 24 hospitals.

Throughout his career at OU-HCOM, including his time as dean, Dr. Brose continued to practice medicine, in recent years volunteering in the college’s free Community Clinic, which he founded in 2005.

In addition, Dr. Brose encouraged expanded medical research efforts, especially in cancer, diabetes and related illnesses. Largely due to the new drug, Somavert^®, developed by OU-HCOM professor John Kopchick, Ph.D., Ohio University ranks as the top public university in Ohio, and among the top in the nation, for research royalties. Forbes magazine ranked Ohio University fourth in the nation for research returns on investment.

“Through Jack Brose’s excellent leadership, the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine has progressed, excelled, and moved into an exciting new era,” said Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis.

“Jack’s passion for medical education and service to our region and state have placed OU-HCOM in a position of strength resulting in partnerships for an exciting future. The synergy he has fostered is a firm foundation for the future success of OU-HCOM. For his passion, his energy, and his vision, we are very grateful. We treasure Jack Brose as a colleague and a visionary and thank him for his thoughtful leadership through this important time of transition.”

Dr. Brose has received twenty-six “outstanding instructor awards” at OU-HCOM.  He also served on The Ohio State University College of Medicine faculty and was named “Faculty of the Year” by the OSU Family Practice residents.  In 2001, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians named him as “Ohio Educator of the Year.”

Dr. Brose served as the chairman of the Ohio Council of Medical School Deans for two terms, and has been commended for bringing together Ohio’s medical schools to advocate on behalf of medical education in the Ohio General Assembly. He also is the author of numerous academic and research publications, including a book entitled “Guide to EKG Interpretation.”

Dr. Brose received his undergraduate degree in biology from Gettysburg College in 1972. He attended the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth - Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine and earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree in 1976. He completed a residency in family practice at the USAF Medical Center Scott, Scott Air Force Base, in 1979 where he was chief resident from 1978 to 1979, and completed a Teaching and Research Fellowship at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. 

“I have had the honor of working with the most talented people in medical education at the college,” said Dr. Brose. “Our faculty, staff and students have achieved so much since I started here in 1982. All these advances were made possible by their vision and hard work. I’m going to miss everyone terribly, but I’m looking forward to working with university leadership to build relationships and develop the funding necessary to realize the University’s emerging health care vision.”