As announced earlier, today Julio Frenk was voted in as the next Chancellor of UCLA, one of our esteemed Association of American Universities (AAU) peers. As someone who has worked closely with Julio for years and who has had an inside view of his courageous leadership, I can understand why an outstanding institution would select Julio for such a role.

Over the last nine years, with Julio at the helm, we at the University of Miami have made great strides. The growing and relevant portfolio of our talented faculty on topics ranging from climate to cancer allowed us to reach the top 3% of research institutions in the nation, as proven by our invitation to join the prestigious AAU.

Julio leveraged his expertise in public health to steer us through uncertainty, and he bet on our ability to weather the pandemic together, allowing us to resume in-person instruction and ambulatory care of patients at a time when the majority of organizations in our sectors remained closed or solely online. He continued to drive innovation in teaching, with efforts such as the NextGen MD curriculum at the Miller School, where 100% of the program’s first cohort matched for coveted residencies. He helped us increasingly focus on quality and patient care, resulting in more than nine in 10 patients now likely to recommend UHealth. We began strategically reinvesting in the Miami Hurricanes, our hometown team. These accomplishments signal to our community that its premier research institution and its only academic health system are ready and willing partners in South Florida’s ongoing transformation. In other words, the U is on the rise.

It is an honor and a privilege to have been asked by the Board of Trustees, in consultation with the leadership of the Faculty Senate, to add the duties of Acting President to my existing role at the U. As the Board begins the process of working with the faculty to identify the institution’s next president, my message to you today is simple: Let’s keep rising.

The progress and continued improvement at the University of Miami is driven by a relentless commitment to excellence. That commitment starts at the top, but it must live in each one of us.

Our mission is education, research, and taking care of patients. I have great respect for the faculty who delivers on that mission—the educators teaching the next generation of leaders, the researchers finding the solutions that will change our community and our world for the better, and the clinicians healing and saving lives at the bedside. I am committed to continuing my partnership with our talented faculty.

Delivering on our mission changes lives. I am also grateful for the support teams that make it possible to leverage all the talent that our faculty and students bring to our community. What we do matters. I first arrived on this campus as a 17-year-old from the South Bronx in 1974—50 years ago. This place means the world to me because it changed the trajectory of my life. Our mission and our quest for excellence continue. Steady state. We have important work to do, together.

Onward,
Joe

Joseph J. Echevarria
Chief Executive Officer and
Acting President
University of Miami and
University of Miami Health System