March 22, 2023

Message sent on behalf of Ravi Thadhani, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Emory University; and Carlos del Rio, Interim Dean, Emory School of Medicine

Dear colleagues:

We are pleased to announce that Jaffar Khan, MD, professor and interim chair of the Emory School of Medicine Department of Neurology, has accepted the role of department chair, effective April 1, 2023. Dr. Khan is exceptionally qualified for this role given his prior leadership roles and experience as interim chair during the past two years. As chair, Dr. Khan will continue to work closely with leadership across Emory Healthcare, Emory School of Medicine and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, as well as his peer department chairs.

Dr. Khan joined Emory faculty in 1998 after completing his training at Emory. During his tenure, he has held multiple leadership roles, including assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education at Grady from December 2016 to 2021, as well as neurology’s vice chair for Medical Education. Dr. Khan has provided leadership on numerous SOM and university committees, most notably as chair of the SOM clerkship directors, president of the University Senate and chair of the University Faculty Council. 

His national leadership experience includes roles as chair of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Review Committee for Neurology, chair of the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) Graduate Education Subcommittee, chair of the Consortium of Neurology Program Directors, vice chair for AAN’s Education Committee, and Board of Directors member and treasurer of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Khan is a nationally recognized clinician educator who has received many institutional and national teaching awards including the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2016, the AAN’s 2013 Clerkship Directors Teaching Award and the AAN’s 2012 Residency Program Director Award. Most recently, his dedication to teaching was acknowledged with his receipt of 2021 Emory Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education.

Dr. Khan played a pivotal guiding role for the department and the Emory Brain Health Center throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He provides clinical care at Emory Healthcare and Grady, and is known for his commitment to collaboration with colleagues in neurosurgery, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine and the Emory Sleep Center. Under Dr. Khan’s leadership, the Department of Neurology and the Brain Health Center will continue to be the destination center for comprehensive neurological patient care, research and education.

We are appointing Dr. Khan without a formal search, and we are appreciative he has accepted this new leadership role. Throughout the previous two years, Dr. Khan has proven to be an outstanding department leader, adept at building teams and advocating for both faculty and physician education, all while providing exceptional care to patients.

This leadership role is critical as we face a national shortfall of leading neurologists, limited access to high quality care for people living with neurological disease and the critical need for financial mitigation to address the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to Dr. Khan’s continued contributions and have great confidence in his ability to lead our initiatives, capitalize upon opportunities, and mitigate challenges we face now and in the immediate future.  

The Emory Department of Neurology is among the top-ranked in the country, currently positioned number five in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings, and is poised to continue on an exciting upward trajectory. The department plays a critical role in addressing the enormous and growing burden of neurological diseases, serving more than 40,000 patients annually, training over 60 learners annually to help address the national shortfall of practicing neurologists and neuroscientists translating breakthroughs in neuroscience into urgently needed new treatments for brain health.

Please join us in welcoming and congratulating Dr. Khan.

Carlos del Rio, MD

Interim Dean,

Emory University School of Medicine

Interim Chief Academic Officer,

Emory Healthcare

Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH

Executive Vice President for Health Affairs

Emory University

The Leader Update goes to Department Chairs, Department Administrators, Executive Associate Deans and other School of Medicine leaders. We encourage you to share the information in this email with your teams and departments.