Dear Colleagues-Friends:

We are pleased to share the news that the board of UHS Professional Education Programs, Inc., has named Alan Dow, M.D., M.S.H.A., as its president. UHS-PEP is VCU Health’s continuing education organization that provides professional development for physicians and other health care professionals, within Virginia and beyond.

Our institution is committed to life-long learning and to contributing to medical knowledge and clinical competence that will improve patient outcomes and population health. Through UHS-PEP, we aim to serve our alumni as well as the faculty and staff of our schools, of VCU Health and of the McGuire Veterans Administration Medical Center. We also serve the greater community of Richmond and beyond. These are important educational collaborations, and we greatly value these partnerships.

Dr. Dow has a compelling vision and enthusiasm for that mission, and we welcome his leadership on this front. He has been instrumental in directing the popular Practical Frontiers in Primary Care Conference, the Emswiller Interprofessional Symposium, and the online Safe Opiate Prescribing in Virginia course that serves as a resource for licensed prescribers in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the fight against opioid abuse. Consonant with national trends in health professions education, Dr. Dow and colleagues will help us advance the continuum of interprofessional education as well as harnessing technological innovation in the delivery of training for life-long learning. These collective efforts also will position us for submission for joint accreditation for continuing education on emergent standards of best practices in health sciences professional education.

A professor of internal medicine, Dr. Dow holds the Ruth and Seymour Perlin Professorship of Medicine and Health Administration. He will continue to serve as director of VCU’s Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Care that fosters collaborative practice across the schools at VCU, in VCU Health and in the surrounding community.

We are grateful to Linda Meloy, M.D., who has led UHS-PEP since the death of its previous president, John Pellock, M.D., in 2016. Under her leadership, the organization was awarded a full four-year accreditation by the ACCME in 2017. UHS-PEP now also holds Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) continuing education accreditation. Annually, more than 17,000 physicians and health care professionals participate in VCU-sponsored and jointly-sponsored continuing education activities. Dr. Meloy will continue in the interim role of associate dean for continuing medical education.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Dow and working alongside him to advance our professional education mission.

Warm regards,

Peter F. Buckley, M.D.
Dean, VCU School of Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, VCU Health System