Peter Kohler, who is retiring as vice chancellor of UAMS' northwest Arkansas campus on Dec. 31
Dr. Peter Kohler is retiring as vice chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ northwest Arkansas campus effective Dec. 31.
UAMS said he would continue to work part time, seeing patients and conducting research in the Center for Pacific Islander Health.
The hospital also said Pearl McElfish, Ph.D., will lead the campus and other programs in the region as associate vice chancellor for the Northwest Regional Campus and report to Tim Hill, vice chancellor for Regional Programs.
McElfish will also continue her work as the director of the Office of Community Health and Research, co-director of the Center for Pacific Islander Health and as an assistant professor in the College of Medicine.
Kohler was hired in 2007 to lead efforts to open the hospital’s northwest campus, but he was chairman of UAMS’ Department of Internal Medicine in the College of Medicine from 1977-1986 and interim dean from 1985-1986.
McElfish joined UAMS in 2010 as the study director of the National Children’s Study for the Department of Pediatrics. In 2012, she was named the director of the Office of Community Health and Research.
In 2015, she founded the Center for Pacific Islander Health, the first center in the United States that focuses solely on Pacific Islander health issues, according to a news release. She now leads the center with Nia Aitaoto, Ph.D.
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