WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Richard H. Dean, M.D., president emeritus of Wake Forest University Health Sciences, has been appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to the N.C. Economic Development Board. He will serve through June 2009.
The 37-member board oversees state economic development research and planning and makes policy recommendations to the secretary of commerce, the governor and the General Assembly.
As a member of the Economic Development Board, Dean will be involved in developing the state’s comprehensive economic development plan, including recruitment strategies, incentives, prioritization and coordination of economic development investments, workforce development and collaboration with educational and research institutions.
Dean was a driving force behind the plans to expand the Piedmont Triad Research Park in downtown Winston-Salem, a major economic development initiative for the region.
Dean is currently chairman of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce. He served as president and CEO of Wake Forest Health Sciences from November 2001 through June 2007 and prior to that as senior vice president for health affairs of Wake Forest University. A distinguished vascular surgeon, Dean also served as director of the Division of Surgical Sciences and chairman of Wake Forest University Physicians.
# # #
Media contact: Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4977; or Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. The system comprises 1,154 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report.