New CMED dean will begin planning fourth year curriculum
George Kikano is interviewed for the CMED Dean’s position Jan. 19 in the Health Professions building.
George Kikano will be leading the College of Medicine starting part time at Central Michigan University on April 1 and full time on July 1 with an annual salary of $500,000.
Kikano was one of four candidates being interviewed to replace founding dean Ernest Yoder as leader of Central Michigan University's College of Medicine.
CMED has inducted two classes and will accept its third class after April 30. Kikano will finish the curriculum for fourth year students as well as develop and maintain relationships with medical practices in Michigan.
Kikano graduated Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland in 1988. He specializes in family medicine and has served patients for more than 20 years.
He is currently is the founding director of the Weatherhead Institute for Family Medicine and Community Health at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Kikano also is the medical director for Home Care Services with University Hospitals in Cleveland and a professor of family medicine at CWRU.
During a campus forum on Jan. 19, Kikano met with CMED officials in the main auditorium of the College of Medicine.
Kikano outlined his goals for the first months as dean, emphasizing the importance of continuously learning about CMED while in a leadership position.
"The first thing to do is develop planning early on, the next is to listen and learn more about the people and culture of CMED," Kikano said. "This college has come a long way in just a few years but there is still a lot of work to be done. I'm going to be taking input from many people by attending a lot of meetings like this and one-on-one."
Jim Knight, director of Marketing and Communications of the College of Medicine, said understanding the priorities of being the dean of CMED is going to be the biggest challenge for the finalists.
"Its priorities like creating the fourth year curriculum for students, the LCME visit next month, the response to the LCME feedback in June or July and the graduate medical education program,¨ Knight said. ¨They all have those priorities but it is how they tackle them that will ultimately determine the next dean."
The LCME visit will determine the accreditation of CMED. Kikano said that if citations are found by the LCME that the college will have to use them as a leverage.
Construction continues CMED's Saginaw site is also still under construction. CMED East on the campus of Covenant HealthCare is scheduled to open in June for third-year medical students.
Plans are also in place to build a clinical space at CMED's other Saginaw partner, St. Mary's of Michigan.
Kikano will help oversee and make decisions in regards to these new structures, while maintaining relationships with CMED's partners for students undergoing the third and fourth-year curriculum.
