VCU news

Peter F. Buckley, M.D., dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, has been named chair-elect of the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges. As chair-elect, Buckley also will serve on the AAMC’s 17-member board of directors, which provides strategic and fiduciary oversight for the association.

The AAMC is the premiere national organization for academic medicine. Its members include all 152 accredited medical schools in the United States and 17 accredited medical schools in Canada; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 51 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and more than 80 academic societies. 

Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC serves the leaders of America’s medical schools and teaching hospitals and their more than 173,000 full-time faculty members, 89,000 medical students, 129,000 resident physicians, and more than 60,000 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the biomedical sciences. The AAMC Council of Deans works to identify issues affecting academic medicine and develop strategies to achieve the various medical school missions.

In addition to addressing policies that guide the AAMC’s service and advocacy functions, the council also supports deans' leadership roles in guiding individual schools toward excellence in medical education, research and patient care.

“It is a tremendous privilege to serve in the AAMC,” said Buckley, who is also executive vice president for medical affairs at VCU Health System. “On the Council of Deans, I join with colleagues who share a vision of the role that medical schools and teaching hospitals play in our communities and in meeting our nation’s health care needs.”

Buckley’s year as chair-elect began earlier this month and will conclude in November 2019 with his elevation to council chair. He has been a member of the 12-member Council of Deans since 2015. Buckley also serves as chair of the council’s fellowship program that mentors senior faculty members, including department chairs and assistant and associate deans, who are interested in being considered for deanships in the near future.