William Ball, MD, Named Interim VP, College of Medicine Dean

CINCINNATI—William Ball, MD, has been appointed University of Cincinnati (UC) interim vice president for health affairs and dean of the College of Medicine, effective Nov. 1, 2014.

"Dr. Ball has a long and distinguished career as a clinician, researcher and senior leader at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. His expertise and experience will enable the College of Medicine and the Academic Health Center to move forward with momentum,” UC President Santa Ono, PhD, said.

Ball becomes the 51st dean in the college’s nearly 200-year history. Thomas Boat, MD, who has served as dean and vice president since July 1, 2011, announced Sept. 15 that he would step down.

As vice president for health affairs, Ball will lead the collaborative efforts of the university’s four health colleges—allied health sciences, medicine, nursing and pharmacy—in addition to guiding relationships with health care affiliates, including UC Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati Department of Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center and Shriner’s Hospitals for Children–Cincinnati. The vice president and dean sits on the president’s executive committee and cabinet.

Ball currently serves as UC vice president for research and professor of radiology, biomedical engineering and pediatrics. He is former interim chair and chair of the department of biomedical engineering from 2001 to 2008. He received his medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine, completed a fellowship in pediatric radiology and neuroradiology at Cincinnati Children’s and additional neuroradiology fellowship training at the University of New Mexico Medical Center before joining UC and Cincinnati Children’s in 1984.

Ball will remain vice president of research while he assumes these interim roles. 

"I look forward to continuing the progress of the College of Medicine, moving it forward in this interim period, and preparing it for future permanent leadership,” Ball said.

The university will engage an external consultant to assist in developing a broad-based, multi-stage process for determining the optimal organizational structure for advancing the mission, vision, values and priorities of the College of Medicine and the Academic Health Center, Ono and Beverly Davenport, PhD, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, said in announcing the appointment. 

"Once this assessment is complete, we will move forward on launching an international search for new leadership. While we will work expeditiously, we also will work wisely to ensure the process is strategic and inclusive,” they wrote in an announcement to the university.

"We are grateful to Thomas Boat, MD, for his decades of dedicated leadership at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s. Dr. Boat has helped build the foundation of a great college and academic medical center,” Ono said.

Founded in 1819, the UC College of Medicine is the second-oldest public medical school in the country and the oldest west of the Alleghenies. The College of Medicine has 680 medical students and 538 graduate students with 249 postdoctoral fellows and 1,060 residents and fellows serving UC Health University of Cincinnati Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. With approximately 2,000 employees, including 1,649 faculty, the college has a total budget of more than $512 million. Deeply involved in research, the college and the affiliated Cincinnati Children’s received more than $260 million in research funding in 2013. Patient care is provided by University of Cincinnati Physicians, the college’s 750-member faculty group practice, and at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the college's primary teaching hospital, and other area hospitals.