Dear Colleagues,

Today, we are pleased to announce that Carlos del Rio, MD, will serve as interim dean for the School of Medicine and chief academic officer for Emory Healthcare beginning March 1, 2023, when Dean Vikas Sukhatme steps down from the roles to return to the faculty. Dr. del Rio is a highly regarded physician, public health advocate and researcher who currently serves as the Leon L. Haley, Jr. MD distinguished professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases for Emory’s School of Medicine and executive associate dean for Emory at Grady. He is also a professor of Global Health and professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health.  

For more than two decades, Dr. del Rio has worked with marginalized populations to improve clinical care and outcomes in the U.S. and abroad, and he was recently recognized by the CDC Office of Minority Health and Health Equity as a Health Equity Champion. He is co-Director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and co-PI of the Emory-CDC HIV Clinical Trials Unit and the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit. He previously served as chief of the Emory Medical Service at Grady Memorial Hospital from 2001 – 2009 and chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health from 2009 – 2019.  

Dr. del Rio’s work has focused on research, policy development, and disseminating scientific findings regarding global public health crises such as COVID-19 and HIV prevention and the HIV continuum of care. He currently serves as the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is the HIV/AIDS chief section editor for NEJM Journal Watch Infectious Diseases and member of the editorial board of Journal of AIDS, Vaccines and Global Public Health. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. del Rio advised municipal, state, and national leaders and was a frequent source for international media to educate and inform the public about the ongoing global health crisis. He has co-authored 30 book chapters and over 500 scientific papers.  

As we transition to an interim dean, we also want to thank Vikas Sukhatme, MD, ScD, for his contributions as the School of Medicine’s dean since 2017. His can-do spirit, relentless push for excellence, ability to recruit and retain great scholars, and deep interest in medical education have set a high standard. We are grateful for his service to Emory and look forward to continuing to benefit from his experience and wisdom as he returns to the faculty.   

We will keep you informed as we develop our plans to search for the permanent dean of the School of Medicine. 

Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Emory University
Executive Director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Vice Chair, Emory Healthcare Board of Directors

Ravi V. Bellamkonda, PhD 
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Please direct questions and comments to evphafeedback@emory.edu.