VCU Health System vice president elected to board of Association of Academic Health Centers

By Michael Ford
University News Services

Virginia Commonwealth University’s chief academic and administrative officer for its health sciences campus has been elected to the board of directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers, whose member institutions are among the nation's leading centers for patient care, research and health and medical education.

Sheldon M. Retchin, M.D., VCU vice president for health sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System, on Oct. 1 was elected to the 11-member AHC board of directors, which contributes to national public policy by facilitating communication between its members and leaders in government, industry and higher education.

Retchin is a national expert in health policy and health care delivery. He has been appointed to numerous panels on managed care and was a technical adviser for Medicare’s Consumer Assessment of Health Plans study, which was directed by Harvard University. From 1980 to 1982, Retchin was a Robert Wood Johnson scholar.

During his 20-year career at VCU, Retchin has been a professor in the departments of internal medicine, gerontology and health administration, and he has served as chief of geriatric medicine. Prior to his current position, he was president of MCV Physicians, the faculty practice plan of the VCU School of Medicine.

Retchin attended the University of North Carolina, where he received his undergraduate and medical degrees and a Master’s degree in public health. He completed his residency in internal medicine at VCU’s MCV Hospitals, where he also was chief resident.

The AHC is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving health by advancing the leadership of academic health centers in health professions education, biomedical and health services research and health care delivery. The association represents more than 100 institutions that are the health complexes in the nation’s major universities.