By University of Utah Communications

University of Utah President Ruth V. Watkins has appointed Michael L. Good, M.D., as the university’s new senior vice president for health sciences, CEO of University of Utah Health, and executive dean of the U’s School of Medicine. Good, who currently serves as the dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine, replaces interim Senior Vice President Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D. Good will start at the U early this fall.

“Dr. Good is a widely respected leader and administrator with extensive experience managing the complementary missions of clinical care, education and research that are the essential components of academic medicine,” said Watkins. “Mike shares my vision that a public university should serve as a catalyst for improving the human condition and should strive to improve the community it serves. I look forward to collaborating with him in the years ahead.”

Good, who joined the University of Florida faculty in 1988, has served as dean of the school’s College of Medicine since 2008. Prior to that appointment, he held leadership positions at the school as senior associate dean for clinical affairs and chief of staff for what is now known as UF Health Shands Hospital. His leadership experience also extends to the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center and the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, where he served as chief of staff and system medical director, respectively.

“University of Utah Health has earned a national reputation for its work around transparency and the patient experience, as well as its emphasis on value and quality,” said Good. “It is clear to me that Utah has a distinctively collaborative culture, and the talented faculty, staff and students here are uniquely positioned to continue transforming health care and academic medicine. My predecessors built a strong foundation for future success and I look forward to working with leaders across campus to further the mission of one of the country’s top public universities.”

Good earned both his bachelor’s degree in computer and communication sciences and his medical degree from the University of Michigan. He completed his residency training in anesthesiology as well as a research fellowship at the University of Florida.

Good is known in the anesthesiology community for his innovative, interdisciplinary work with University of Florida physicians and engineers to develop the Human Patient Simulator. The sophisticated teaching technology is now used in health care education programs throughout the world.

Watkins selected Good after an extensive national search aided by an advisory committee led by U administrators and faculty members Charles Saltzman, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedics, and Andrew Weyrich, Ph.D., vice president for research and professor of internal medicine.

The U is one of only a few public academic medical centers in which the tripartite missions of clinical, research and academia all report to a singular leader. The CEO position includes fiduciary and fiscal responsibility for more than 70 percent of the university’s budget.