OU Health Sciences Center Provost Sanders Heads to UVM Health; Longtime Dean Raskob Appointed Interim Provost

Jason Sanders, M.D., MBA, senior vice president and provost of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has accepted a position at University of Vermont Health. Dean Gary Raskob, Ph.D., will serve as interim senior vice president and provost for the campus pending approval by the OU Board of Regents. A national search to fill the position will commence immediately.

In his new position, Sanders will serve as president and CEO of UVM Health Network Medical Group, executive vice president of UVM Health Clinical Affairs and senior associate dean of clinical affairs at the University of Vermont.  

Sanders has held leadership positions at the OU Health Sciences Center since 2013, including serving as interim provost before officially being appointed in December 2015.

“Under Provost Sanders’ leadership, the Health Sciences Center campus has achieved milestones in research and clinical care while providing multidisciplinary health education opportunities for our students,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “We thank Provost Sanders for his tremendous service to his alma mater, and we are incredibly proud that an OU alumnus has been selected for this prestigious role at UVM Health.”

Sanders was a pivotal leader in the buy-out and transition of the OU Medicine hospital system from HCA Healthcare to local, non-profit management in February 2018. He served on the OU Medicine Board of Directors, first as vice chair and then as acting chair. In the past year, he has worked diligently with campus leaders to transition the hospital system and outpatient faculty practice of OU Health Physicians, comprised of OU College of Medicine faculty, into the state’s only comprehensive academic health system of hospitals, clinics and centers of excellence, operating as a single entity, OU Health. Since July 1, he has served as co-chair of the OU Health Board of Directors. Sanders’ replacement in this board role will be announced soon.

“Our university, our health care enterprise and our entire state will be the beneficiaries of Provost Sanders’ dedication and service in the decades to come,” Harroz said. “Although he will be profoundly missed here at OU, we are remarkably proud of the progress we’ve achieved to deepen our presence on the national stage in education, research and clinical care. We are also grateful to Dean Gary Raskob for stepping into this interim role and sharing his renowned academic and research expertise with our entire health enterprise.”

Raskob serves as dean of OU’s Hudson College of Public Health and is a Regents Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine. Raskob celebrated his 30^th anniversary at OU this fall. His career at OU began in 1991, and he was named dean in 2002. He is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on thrombosis and antithrombotic therapy and has published extensively on these topics. Raskob brings depth and breadth of knowledge in clinical research, including clinical trials and applied research. He has served as an advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, and is a past Chair of the  Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Board of Directors. Notably, Raskob has served as chair of the Oklahoma City-County Board of Health since 2017, and in this capacity has helped lead the greater Oklahoma City community through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“My colleagues and I are incredibly happy for Provost Sanders as he enters this next stage in his life and career,” Raskob said. “It is humbling and an honor to take on this responsibility as the national search for his replacement commences. The OU Health Sciences Center is positioned to reach even greater heights as we educate the next generation of health leaders and pursue groundbreaking research. I look forward to leading our campus and partnering with OU Health during this transition.”

As OU Health Sciences Center transitions leadership, the focus on strategic planning for the next five to 10 years, growing the health care workforce pipeline for the state of Oklahoma, alignment and ongoing integration with OU Health, and clinical research infrastructure will be major priorities, Raskob said. Sanders’ final day at OU will be Jan. 15, 2022.

“The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and OU Health is a special place,” Sanders said. “I am incredibly proud of the entire team for the many accomplishments we have shared together over the years. Although it is a next chapter for my family and me, I am a proud Oklahoman and OU alumnus, and I will always be a part of the OU family.”