The University of Nebraska System has named H. Dele Davies, MD, as the priority candidate for the position of chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Dr. Davies has served as UNMC’s interim chancellor since 2024. In this role, Dr. Davies has overseen campus leadership, program quality and campus operations, which include six colleges, a graduate studies program, two degree-granting institutes, more than 6,000 professional faculty and staff and 4,500 health professions students.
“I am honored to be selected as the priority candidate and look forward to engaging with the UNMC community and our partners as the process advances,” Dr. Davies said. “I thank the Chancellor Search Advisory Committee and President Gold for moving my candidacy forward. UNMC is an extraordinary academic health center because of our people, and I am grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our faculty, staff, students, Nebraska communities and all those who depend on us. I firmly believe our best work is ahead of us, and we will get there together.”
Dr. Davies was identified as the priority candidate after a search process open to candidates from across the NU system. The search was led by a committee made up of representatives from UNMC, Nebraska Medicine, each of the other three NU campuses and members of the community. The search committee was convened by NU Executive Vice President and Provost David Jackson, PhD, and assisted by executive search firm CarterBaldwin.
NU President Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, said: “Dr. Davies is a thoughtful and strategic leader, an accomplished researcher, an incredible physician and someone I’ve been proud to work alongside for more than a decade. During his time at UNMC, he has repeatedly demonstrated a deep commitment to students, patients and communities across Nebraska. I commend the search committee for their work in identifying such a strong and experienced candidate.”
Dr. Davies joined UNMC as vice chancellor and dean of graduate studies in 2012. He was promoted in 2017 to senior vice chancellor, with expanded responsibilities and direct oversight of all UNMC colleges and a health sciences library. During his tenure at Nebraska, Dr. Davies has overseen numerous initiatives and helped grow UNMC’s rural health programs, pathway programs, community outreach, and faculty and staff development. He also has been instrumental in the development of multiple new professional degree programs, which in turn have contributed to the steady enrollment growth UNMC has experienced over the past decade.
Prior to joining UNMC, Dr. Davies served as professor and chair of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Pediatrics and Human Development Department. Before that, he was director of the Child Health Research Unit at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Canada, and the Child Health Research Institute at the University of Calgary.
“Dr. Davies has brought a wealth of experience, both at UNMC and at other top medical schools, to the interim chancellor position,” said Paul Kenney, chairman of the NU Board of Regents. “He has done a wonderful job in the interim role, and I am confident he is the right person to lead UNMC in the years ahead.”
As part of the public vetting process, Dr. Davies will visit the UNMC campus in Omaha to engage with students, faculty, staff and key stakeholders. Similar visits will take place in Lincoln, Kearney, Norfolk and Scottsbluff. Details on public participation and engagement will be announced in advance of each visit.
Dr. Davies earned his medical degree from the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Toronto Dana Lana School of Public Health. Dr. Davies also holds a master’s degree in health care management from the Harvard School of Public Health.
He is specialty-trained in pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Davies is a past fellow of the Academic Leadership Program, an extensive training program of the Big Ten Academic Alliance designed to help faculty leaders address the challenges of academic administration at major research universities.
Dr. Davies would succeed Dr. Gold, who served as UNMC chancellor for a decade prior to being named NU President.
For more information on Dr. Davies and the UNMC chancellor search process, visit the UNMC chancellor search webpage.