Loss of dean won’t stop medical center

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001 | 10:56 a.m.

Dr. Robert Miller's resignation won't derail plans to build an academic medical center as part of a 61-acre development in downtown Las Vegas, supporters of the proposal said.

"I don't expect that him stepping down will hinder us in any way," said Lesa Coder, business development director for the city of Las Vegas. "The Regents have already supported the project, and I see that as being an effort that can transcend any individual. Redevelopment still goes on."

Miller, citing stress on his family life, resigned as dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine on Wednesday. Miller's last day will be Oct. 15.

The appointment of Miller in 1999 was heralded by university officials as a badly-needed infusion of administrative talent and energy.

The academic medical center proposal, endorsed by Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada, was Miller's idea.

Miller has been working with city officials and proposed developers to build an academic medical center on the downtown land. Mayor Oscar Goodman has said such a facility must be included in the downtown development.

"It will end up being his legacy," said Regent Doug Seastrand of Las Vegas. "He may have only been here a short time, but he has definitely made his mark."

Miller, 54, said the constant traveling between the Reno and Las Vegas campuses was taking a toll on his wife and two teenage children.

Dealing with the politics of separate campuses -- often with separate visions -- was also an unexpected challenge, Miller said. The Reno campus is the medical school's headquarters, where the bulk of the university's profitable research work is conducted and students spend their first years taking basic science courses.

Las Vegas is the center for most of the school's clinical offices, including obstetrics and pediatrics, which have been struggling to be self-supporting.

The proposed academic medical center, which could include a school of pharmacy and a dental school, would consolidate resources and open new opportunities for collaboration, Miller said. It would also provide badly needed health services to the booming population of Southern Nevada, he said.

Miller, who earns $310,000 a year as dean, said he plans to return to the medical school faculty as a professor of surgery. He will also continue working with Goodman on the downtown development plan.

"The idea has been so well received, I'd hate to see it lose momentum," Miller said.

Las Vegas Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, who has served as a consultant to the medical school, said the dean's position is one of "the toughest jobs in higher education."

Miller was the first dean at the medical school to live in Las Vegas, a decision Boggs McDonald called symbolic.

"The medical school was founded on the Reno campus, but I believe the future of the medical school and its viability resides in Las Vegas," Boggs McDonald said.

An interim dean will be appointed, and a nationwide search will be conducted to replace Miller, said John Lilley, University of Nevada, Reno president.

"This is a real loss for us, but I understand Dr. Miller's position and respect it," Lilley said.

The university is also in the midst of a strategic planning process aimed at ensuring the medical school's fiscal solvency in an era of managed care and diminished Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Miller has touted his downtown plan as a means of boosting both the medical school's profile and bottom line.

"I'm very disappointed by his resignation," said system Chancellor Jane Nichols. "Dr. Miller was hired with such promise that he would lead the medical school into a new future. It's very sad that he's leaving us after only two years."

Miller replaced Robert Daugherty, who resigned in 1998 after 17 years as dean.

During his tenure Miller appointed a new chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and added several new faculty members. Prior to his appointment in 1999 Miller was chancellor for clinical affairs and chairman of the otolaryngology department at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans.