Karandikar to serve as enterprise chief strategy officer while continuing as pathology chair and DEO
Nitin Karandikar, MD, PhD, has been named the enterprise chief strategy officer for University of Iowa Health Care, expanding his executive leadership responsibilities while he continues as professor and chair of the Department of Pathology.
Starting July 1, Karandikar will be shaping and driving the long-term strategic direction across UI Health Care’s clinical, research, and education missions. He will report to Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, the University of Iowa vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the Carver College of Medicine in this newly defined role. Karandikar, the Dr. Richard G. Lynch Chair in Experimental Pathology, will take a holistic, forward-looking view while setting UI Health Care’s strategic priorities in the context of its mission, vision, and position in Iowa’s evolving health care landscape.
“I am delighted that Dr. Karandikar has agreed to take on this important new role in championing an integrated approach to enterprise strategic planning,” says Jamieson. “At this pivotal moment in the transformation of our academic health system, the work of the enterprise chief strategy officer will drive coordination, accountability, execution, and overall performance for the organization across our tripartite mission.”
In this role, Karandikar will work with the executive leadership team to drive the strategy lifecycle while fostering innovation and integration across UI Health Care’s tripartite mission. This includes setting the strategy implementation plan, annual key metrics, and performance goals. Karandikar will also work closely with the Clinical Chief Strategy Officer Joe Clamon, JD, to continue developing strategies to improve statewide access to high quality clinical care.
“I am excited about the next phase of UI Health Care’s journey,” Karandikar says. “As we evolve as an organization, it becomes vitally important to look at the enterprise-wide strategy across all our missions: patient care, education, and research. I am looking forward to partnering with leaders across the enterprise so that we can generate and implement the best interwoven strategy.”
Karandikar has served as chair and department executive officer of the Department of Pathology since 2013. During his time as chair, he has bolstered the department’s research enterprise—which jumped more than 30 ranks in National Institutes of Health funding rankings—maintained strong educational programs for students and trainees of all levels, and fostered consistently high faculty engagement scores, above the national average. The department has been nationally and internationally recognized for its educational programs, its outstanding laboratory services, including various areas of clinical and anatomic pathology, and its expertise and research in neuropathology, neuroscience, neuroimmunology, infectious disease immunology, and cancer biology.
Beyond his departmental responsibilities, Karandikar has led multiple institutional and interinstitutional efforts, such as guiding hospital financial strategy, including chairing institutional funds flow initiatives; chairing multiple high-level searches; and active membership in major institutional projects.
Karandikar earned his MD at B.J. Medical College at the University of Poona in Pune, India, and his PhD in immunology and molecular pathogenesis at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. He completed residency training at B.J. Medical College and at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
Karandikar is a member of the Association of Pathology Chairs and the Association of Academic Pathology, serving as chair of the organization’s research committee.