AAMC to search for new leader as Darrell Kirch steps down after almost a dozen years

The Association of American Medical Colleges is looking for a new president and CEO.

The AAMC announced that Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., has decided to step down from the role after almost a dozen years. He will leave the job as of June 30, 2019. In the months to come, the nonprofit organization will conduct a nationwide search for his successor.

Kirch has been the association’s president since July 2006.

“Finding someone with an equally vibrant vision for academic medicine, a passion for improving medical education and healthcare and a strong, collaborative voice to succeed a transformative leader like Darrell Kirch is the challenge now ahead of us,” said M. Roy Wilson, M.D., chair of the association’s board of directors.

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The search for a new president will be led by the board and Marsha D. Rappley, M.D., immediate past chair, will head the search committee. AAMC members include all of the 149 accredited medical schools in the U.S., as well as 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems and more than 80 academic societies.

Kirch has overseen a changing healthcare industry. In 2017, the AAMC reported a milestone, as the overall incoming class among U.S. medical students contained more women than men, which marked a first for the industry. Also during his tenure as president, diversity increased among the country’s medical schools.

He’s also seen the country’s physician shortage continue to grow, with the association foreseeing a shortage of between 40,800 and 104,900 doctors by 2030 as demand for doctors grows faster than the supply.