Dr. Brian Kessler announced as Dean
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r. Brian Kessler will be the next dean of Campbell University’s Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Mark Hammond announced today. Kessler was associate dean of clinical affairs for the medical school in 2011, two years before it opened its doors to students in 2013, and has spent the past five years as the vice president, dean and chief academic officer for Lincoln Memorial University’s DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tennessee. Kessler will be Campbell’s second medical school dean in its eight-year history. Dr. John Kauffman served until 2019, and Dr. Jim Powers has served as interim dean for the last two years. Kessler said returning to Campbell is like coming home.
Prior to Campbell, Kessler was chief academic officer and director of medical education at Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital in Ohio and the osteopathic family medicine residency director for the University Hospitals Health System in Richmond Heights Ohio. Kessler’s experience — along with his familiarity with Campbell and its mission and his overall personality and leadership qualities — made him the perfect choice to lead Campbell’s med school into its second decade, according to Hammond. “He’s left his indelible fingerprints all over our medical school’s policies, its culture and even its connections with hospitals in our region,” Hammond said. “He is someone who understands Campbell’s mission and exemplifies it.” Hammond also touted Kessler’s experience in family medicine, one of the key focuses at Campbell. “The med school’s mission is to educate medical professionals to serve the rural and underserved, especially in North Carolina and especially in family medicine,” Hammond said. “Dr. Kessler models that very well. He continued to grow, thrive and develop at Lincoln Memorial, and he’s coming back to Campbell to develop what he helped build here and flourish.” Hammond credited the search firm, Storbeck Search, and partner Sue May in the decision to hire Kessler. The firm, he said, built a large candidate pool for this position and has partnered with Campbell in other recent national searches over the past several years, including the one for Campbell’s fifth president in 2015.
“It’s as if I never left,” he said. “It’s very similar to when you grow “I may have left Campbell in body, but never in mind and spirit.” up, move away and return to your childhood home — the houses in your - Dr. Brian Kessler neighborhood might look different, and the shrubbery and landscaping might not be the same, but there’s still that warmth and familiarity. I That president, Dr. J. Bradley Creed, said he was pleased to may have left Campbell in body, but never in mind and spirit.” welcome Kessler back to Buies Creek, touting his experience and knowledge of osteopathic medical education in the Kessler was instrumental in launching the med school in 21st Century. 2013 and guiding it through its first three years. The school’s inaugural class earned their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine “He brings back with him valuable experience and degrees in 2017, and many of them have, very recently, capabilities,” Creed said. “He’s been a sitting dean, he’s wrapped up their residency programs and have begun very knowledgeable of the opportunities for medical school practicing in their respective fields (many in rural regions of education today, and he’s very involved in several professional North Carolina and the Southeast). organizations. I think he’s poised to come back and make new contributions to Campbell, and I look forward to working with As associate dean of clinical affairs, Kessler helped develop him as we continue our mission of graduating women and the curriculum at Campbell’s new med school and oversaw men who can serve humanity through their gifts and skills as mission stewardship, clinical education and graduate medical doctors of osteopathic medicine.” education. He was also a professor of family medicine. A native of Delaware who moved to central Pennsylvania At Lincoln Memorial, he helped launch a branch campus during his teens, Kessler earned a degree in biology from St. in Knoxville, Tennessee, as vice president and dean, and Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. After graduation, he helped develop the school’s occupational therapy and he chose to attend the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic physical therapy programs and expand its physician Medicine in Erie, Pennsylvania. He was among the second assistant program. 6 SPRING - 2021
