November 11, 2002 -- It is perhaps most typical of Bob Carey that a remarkable tenure as Dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine came to a close with an email to the faculty and staff that generously and graceciously gave all the credit to others, naming President Casteen, the faculty, the students and his administrative staff for achieving " …a partnership of clinicians, scientists, educators and students working hand-in-hand to improve human health." His own unprecedented role as the leader and designer of this partnership was not mentioned when he described the faculty as "…a cohesive body of the highest possible excellence, character, and spirit."

It would seem that all Carey would have to do is to list the accomplishments in the 16 years that he served as Dean: the new departments and collaborative centers begun, the departmental chairs and center directors recruited, the endowed chairs funded, the interdisciplinary programs with other schools at U.Va., the new curriculum, the quadrupling of sponsored program funding, the support of women and underrepresented minorities, the millions of dollars raised, the teaching and clinical awards received, and the research buildings built, not to mention the medical education building on the drawing board. Combined, these achievements make a stunning legacy for Carey. And all this while maintaining two RO1 grants himself, publishing 200 articles, winning countless awards and being a father and husband to a lovely and wonderful family.

"To be an effective leader", Carey believes, "you need to be involved in the content of what you are leading." But these numbers and collations of accolades do not begin to get at the sense of what Bob Carey means to the over 2,100 graduates who comprise 40% of the living alumni of the School of Medicine. And to list the accomplishments would not have been Bob Carey’s way.
A better sense of Carey’s tenure as Dean can be found in his descriptions of his best and worst days as Dean and in his own, private summation of his accomplishments.

The darkest day was not of his own making. It was when Governor Wilder called for an immediate 13% budget cut. "I didn’t know if we would survive," Carey said. In response, he restructured the School of Medicine’s approach to finances. "We made sure that medical education never was cut at all and we would not cut programs to disadvantaged students."What he did was to use infrastructure money to bring in clinicians and give them seed funding, then turn them loose to produce results. He established a system of institutionally shared research resources so that expensive equipment could be better shared among researchers. He pushed for more grants and awards. "We leveraged research and other money and kept three of our basic science departments in the top 5 in the country," Carey explained. He also learned to dramatically increase private fund raising, increasing the size of the development team and getting personally involved in some of the larger foundation and corporate negotiations. Nevertheless, these were hard lessons and difficult times. Sometimes money he thought he had raised would not materialize and he would have to back down from plans already underway. He always tried to go back and finish the job when funding did become available. Sometimes, it never did. Despite these major difficulties, he took UVa from a national ranking of 41st to 29th—quite a feat for an institution when compared to schools with more faculty, space, and money. It still worries him that U.Va. finds itself struggling for resources and that it is 72nd among state funded medical schools. "We never did get back what we lost in state funding then," he laments.

To compensate for those financial woes, Carey claims to have had 16 "best days"—one at the end of each year when he could publicly recognize the accomplishments of the faculty and students. In these recitations, he cited the fulfillment of his goals "…to find the best faculty and students and then give them the opportunity to succeed". And succeed they did—often making these annual meetings seem too long—but Carey was determined to leave no kudos unsung even if it meant perpetually taking longer than his allotted time. Carey explained his job this way: "My role is to enrich the institution step-by-step by recruiting the best people, while also supporting and mentoring the ones already here. It is the people and how they interact that is important—not the buildings or even the programs."

The theme of the importance of interpersonal relationships comes up again and again in conversations with Carey and with others who have worked with him. In response to his email announcement, he received many "thank you’s" for his personal interactions:

"You have done a remarkable job for this medical school, one that can perhaps be best appreciated by those of us who have joined from elsewhere in recent years. Though it may sound trivial, it is nonetheless true that your greatest accomplishment is…the spirit of good will and decency that you model and that permeates the school."

"Just a short note to thank you for your support of women’s health and women’s issues."There were similar notes thanking him for support of diversity, various departments and programs, library resources and the students.

"I have worked with other deans…you have been head and shoulders above them all."

"I have been impressed with your leadership through my medical school, residency, fellowship and now as an attending. Wanted to let you know that we ‘little people’ have appreciated your work."

"You are a man of integrity and insight." And " Your tremendous insight, honesty and kindness are the characteristics that make you stand out as such a wonderful leader."

"You have been extremely helpful, approachable and thoughtful," "Thank you for your wonderful… personal example," and "I am proud to be part of what is an outstanding… faculty that you did much to create, support and nurture."

"Your words and leadership have often inspired me during my career here."

In all of these statements, there is a personal tone and a reference to Bob Carey’s innate humanity. One of his colleagues said it best, "This is one of the kindest and nicest men I know—he takes a personal interest in each of us and makes it a pleasure to work with him. He does not have it in him to be mean-spirited."

If more proof were needed of the greatest legacy that Bob Carey leaves this school—the one of personal giving and interest—one need look no farther than the last "Dean’s meeting" on June 25th. The group turned a bit raucous as each presented his own personal tribute in an individual way. Framed proclamations, scrapbooks, cartoons, fake telephone book ads, poetry, selected readings, mathematical theorems and two musical tributes, complete with key board accompaniments, punctuated the presentations of books, ties, caps and verbal tributes from the Associate and Assistant Deans. In each of the gifts, there was laughter and love for a man who has always had an open door policy for students, faculty members, and deans alike.

One would also hope that this man who has given so much to others will now make plans for himself. After a year’s sabbatical, he intends to combine his interests of family, research and administration in new ways. He wants to keep up his highly successful research and restart his clinical practice. His family, who has so generously shared him with us, will get to see more of him and certainly, there will be more time devoted to fishing. He will serve as "Dean Emeritus" and report directly to President Casteen where he hopes to "…continue to make contributions of value." For all those past contributions of value we are hugely grateful and we look forward to those of the future, but even more, we look forward to the continued counsel and support of the man we know as a friend.