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PrintCOLUMBIA - MU's School of Medicine announced Thursday that Dr. Robert Churchill will serve as interim dean in place of Dr. William Crist, who is leaving MU to serve as vice president for health affairs at the University of Arizona.
Churchill and Crist will work together until Churchill assumes full responsibilities on Oct. 16, according to a news release. Crist served as dean for eight years.
Churchill has been at MU for more than 20 years.
Churchill's duties as interim dean include overseeing the medical school's 650 faculty members, 1,500 staff members and 1,000 medical students, residents, fellows and students completing advanced degrees. He will work with the medical school's 7,300 physician alumni as well. Churchill will also be responsible for University Physicians, a practice plan for the school's more than 440 faculty physicians.
Churchill served as interim vice chancellor and chief executive officer of MU's Health Sciences Center until 2000, when he returned to the department of radiology.
Additionally, Churchill has been involved in recruiting radiologists and running a "highly competent" radiology training program. In 2005, he helped open Missouri Radiology Imaging Center, a resonance imaging facility.
Before coming to MU, Churchill was the vice chair of radiology at Loyola University in Maywood, Ill., where he also completed medical school, his residency and fellowship training. Churchill completed a fellowship at General Electric, where he served as an adviser to the company.
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