UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson announces a new $31.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health on July 10, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
The leader of Arkansas’ largest healthcare system will step down after seven years for personal and medical reasons, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences announced Tuesday in a news release.
Dr. Cam Patterson became the university’s chancellor in June 2018. By giving up his position as chancellor and as UAMS Health CEO, he will return to being a faculty member in the university’s cardiology department.
Patterson “is facing medical and personal issues that require more attention than he can give them while serving in the chancellor’s position,” according to UAMS’ news release.
“The work our team has done at UAMS over the last seven-plus years has been the high point of my career,” Patterson said in the release. “We have a lot to be proud of and I’ve been the luckiest guy to be a part of it. I am excited about the opportunity to return to the faculty and engage more deeply in the academic and clinical missions at our institution.”
UAMS System President Jay Silveria praised Patterson’s leadership tenure in the release.
“Leading UAMS is a demanding task, and I appreciate Dr. Patterson’s need to do what he feels is best for himself and his family and for the long-term success of the university,” Silveria said. “His contributions to UAMS came through unusually restrictive times, and he should be celebrated for his efforts to push the institution forward while navigating a challenging environment.”
Patterson “oversaw both challenges and improvement in the university’s economic outlook, despite the myriad issues presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and other unforeseen variables,” the release states.
One such challenge was a conflict between state and federal mandates regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a mandate in November 2021 for health workers to be fully vaccinated or receive exemptions, with noncompliant facilities at risk of losing federal funding.
The rule directly conflicted with a 2021 Arkansas law that said COVID-19 vaccination “shall not be a condition of education, employment, entry, or services from the state or a state agency or entity” unless lawmakers approved an exception. Patterson sought an exemption and defended this decision before a legislative committee.
Silveria will name an interim UAMS chancellor “in the coming weeks” and start a national search for Patterson’s permanent successor, the news release states.
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