Dr. Charles Lockwood is changing from a Buckeye to a Bull.
The current Dean of the Ohio State University's College of Medicine has been named the new senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.
Lockwood, 59, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and an internationally known researcher in obstetrics and gynecology, will take the helm at USF on May 5th.
He replaces Dr. Stephen Klasko, who left last September after nine years leading USF Health to become the president of Thomas Jefferson University and president/CEO of the Jefferson University Hospital System.
In a statement on USF Health's webpage, USF President Judy Genshaft praised the new hire.
“The University of South Florida System is thrilled to welcome an individual of Dr. Lockwood’s national standing to lead USF Health as we continue to provide leading-edge health education and care,” President Genshaft said. “Dr. Lockwood is not only an innovative medical educator, but he is an accomplished researcher and entrepreneurial thinker who will be a leader for our region, state and nation. “There is no more important factor to the future success of our communities than providing high-quality, affordable and accessible healthcare. I am proud that USF continues to be at the forefront of finding cures, developing more effective treatments and creating new solutions to our most pressing health problems.”
In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Lockwood indicated that he'll consider continuing the expansion of USF Health that Klasko pushed for, but he'll do so cautiously.
"As the financial environment around academic medical centers evolves, each of our major missions - research, education and clinical care - are going to have increasingly stand on their own," Lockwood said. "And the kind of large scale cross-subsidization that's been occurring for a very long time to kind of sustain the academic medical mission is going to have to at least be greatly diminished."
He added that the people of USF were what really stood out when he came in for his interview.
"The faculty that I met were quite different than I've seen around the country as I traveled to other schools, and they were energized and they were committed to the future and willing to innovate," he said. "We have a great administration that's committed to innovation, a very strong entrepreneurial spirit on the campus and particularly at USF Health."
Lockwood was the only finalist from outside USF. The other finalists were: Dr. Charles Paidas, vice dean for clinical affairs and graduate medical education; Dr. David J. Smith Jr., chairman of the surgery department and chief medical officer at USF Health's Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS); Dr. Robert Brooks, associate vice president for health care leadership; and Dr. Clifton Gooch, chairman of the neurology department, who withdrew his name from consideration.
Lockwood's initial contract is a year-long appointment, and can be renewed annually for five years. He'll start at a salary of $775,000 (faculty salary of $250,000 and the remainder from the College of Medicine's Dean's Fund) and a performance bonus of up to $155,000.
The Tampa Bay Times reports Lockwood will also receive a one-time startup bonus of $80,000.
The Times adds that Klasko left in the middle of a five-year, $748,000 annual contract that included a $100,000 signing bonus. Klasko also lost out on about $1.6 million in deferred retention incentives by leaving early.
Lockwood has been dean of Ohio State's College of Medicine since 2011. He spent the prior nine years as chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale University School of Medicine. Before that, he was chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the New York University School of Medicine from 1995 to 2002, and acting director of NYU’s Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center from 1998 to 2000.
