TUCSON, AZ — The University of Arizona has appointed the 17th Surgeon General of the United States to lead the campus Reentry Task Force.
Dr. Richard Carmona will help UA develop and execute its plan to return to on-campus classes and operations next fall.
UA says Dr. Carmona currently serves as a distinguished professor of public health at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He also holds dual roles as a professor of surgery at the College of Medicine and a professor at the College of Pharmacy, with more than 35 years on the faculty at the University of Arizona. Carmona is a physician, Vietnam veteran, and a former paramedic, nurse, deputy sheriff and public health administrator.
Carmona will report to the UA President Dr. Robert C. Robbins, who served as the head of Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical complex, in the past.
The campus Reentry Task Force will integrate and be informed by the ongoing reentry activities led by Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Liesl Folks, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation Betsy Cantwell and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences Dr. Michael Dake, UA says.
"Dr. Carmona has an incredible wealth of experience that includes serving as the chief public health officer in the country, and he will take immediate charge of leading this campus community through our reentry process," Robbins said in a press release. "Dr. Carmona has been entrenched in our campus for decades and we are fortunate to have his expertise in our mix. He has unique experience and is fully invested in bringing our Wildcat family back."
Officials will provide an update Wednesday afternoon on the current status of the re-entry plan. School officials first announced their plan to get back to campus next fall late last month.
