I am pleased to announce that Dr. Patricia Kritek has been named as the UW School of Medicine Associate Dean for Faculty Development. She succeeds Dr. Christina Surawicz, who has retired after serving in this role for 16 years.
Dr. Kritek has the ideal background and training to broaden the scope of our career development program for School of Medicine faculty in Seattle and the WWAMI region. She is a professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and a trained educator with a master’s degree from Harvard’s School of Education. She will now split her time between her clinical practice and her role as associate dean.
Dr. Kritek came to UW Medicine eight years ago when she was appointed associate medical director for critical care at UW Medical Center. In addition to caring for patients in the medical, surgical, and oncology/bone marrow transplant intensive care units, she has served as a mentor to junior faculty. In her free time, she enjoys rowing, backpacking and cooking.
With her new role, she is excited about the opportunity to help faculty develop their careers while also paying close attention to their personal wellness. She plans to develop a durable onboarding and orientation process and build a new peer support program. She is also interested in promoting mentorship and creating a website with resources and answers to questions about career development.
Since assuming her position in October, Dr. Kritek has begun meeting with faculty to learn about their experiences at UW Medicine. She welcomes input from all faculty in person and by email at pkritek@uw.edu.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Surawicz for her outstanding contributions to UW Medicine. She joined the Division of Gastroenterology faculty at Harborview in 1981 and served as section head from 1993 to 2013. During her tenure as the first Dean for Faculty Development, she helped to build our culture of professionalism by providing faculty with training in teaching skills, and she has been a powerful advocate for advancing the careers of women faculty in science and medicine.
With the expansion of the faculty development program under Dr. Kritek’s leadership, I am confident that UW Medicine will be able to offer faculty increased support for rewarding careers and greater resources to advance our mission of improving the health of the public.
Sincerely,
Paul G. Ramsey, M.D.
CEO, UW Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and
Dean of the School of Medicine,
University of Washington
