Dr. Frank Torti, dean of UConn School of Medicine and executive vice president for health affairs, will step down from his position early next year, following a move by UConn President Susan Herbst to split his positions into two different jobs, according to a memo Herbst sent to UConn faculty and employees Tuesday.
Torti, appointed in 2012, will return to his research as a faculty member of UConn Health, Herbst wrote.
The change in the position will have the executive vice president reporting to Herbst and the dean reporting to UConn Provost Mun Choi.
UConn Spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said Wednesday that the split allows the executive vice president to focus on business functions of UConn Health and the dean to focus on the medical school’s academic mission.
Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, a director with Berkeley Research Group, will serve as interim executive vice president for health affairs. Dr. Bruce Liang, chief of UConn Health’s cardiology division, will act as interim dean, a role he previously filled from 2011 to 2012.
“While I am sorry to lose a leader as valued as Dr. Torti, I understand his desire to return to the faculty, and his lab, after leading UConn Health for nearly three years through one of the most significant periods of change and transformation in its history,” Herbst wrote.
Herbst credited Torti with achieving more than $50 million in cost savings and operational improvements, increasing hospital admissions and operating room cases, expanding UConn Health’s footprint to seven locations, and growing research funding by 5 percent.
