News

Announcing Anita Blanchard, MD'90, as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education

by Holly J. Humphrey, MD'83

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Anita Blanchard, MD'90, to Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME), effective January 1, 2018.  Over the next six months, Dr. Blanchard will serve as Assistant Dean for GME and will work closely with Dr. Mike Simon, our current Associate Dean for GME.  She and Dr. Simon will work together creating an important transition in leadership for our GME programs. 

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Dr. Blanchard is a 1990 graduate of the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine where she also completed her residency education in obstetrics and gynecology and then joined the faculty in 1994.  She advanced through the academic ranks earning promotion to Professor in 2014.  Dr. Blanchard has focused her career on residency education serving as Program Director in Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2004 - 2017.

Recognized as a GME leader both locally and nationally, Dr. Blanchard’s work as an active residency program director laid a strong foundation for her career. She has served on multiple special program review committees and chaired our institution’s inaugural Medical Education Resilience Committee that planned and implemented a highly rated GME Resilience Week in February 2017. Dr. Blanchard is a current member of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  In her new role, Anita will bring extensive local and national experience to guide graduate medical education at the University of Chicago into the future. 

I wish to thank the members of the internal search committee who reviewed the candidates for this position.  Please join me in thanking Search Committee Chair, Dr. Alisa McQueen, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, and Pediatrics Residency Program Director; and the committee members: Debi Albert, Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services; Dr. John M. “Jack” Lee, Clinical Professor of Pathology NorthShore University Health System and Program Director, Pathology; Gerard Mikols, Associate Dean for Medical Education and Simulation Administration; Dr. Kevin Roggin, Professor of Surgery and Program Director, General Surgery Residency Program; and Dr. Stephen Weber, Professor of Medicine, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Clinical Effectiveness.

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Importantly, I wish to acknowledge the leadership and contributions of Dr. Mike Simon as our institution’s first Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, an appointment that he has held since 2003.  Mike’s deep experience in residency education as a program director, chair of the Residency Review Committee for Orthopedic Surgery and President of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery provided a strong foundation for his vision and leadership of graduate medical education for our institution.  Over the last 14 years, he has brought organization and consistency to our institution’s GME programs and has been an important voice in our interactions and planning with the NorthShore University Health System.  We will have the opportunity to celebrate and thank Mike closer to the time when he steps away from his role as Associate Dean for GME on December 31, 2017.

Please join me in thanking Mike Simon and in welcoming Anita Blanchard to her new role!