October 7, 2021

Dear VTCSOM Community,

Dr. Richard Vari will be retiring from Virginia Tech on June 1, 2022, and his last day in the office will be Friday, October 29.  Rick is retiring sooner than he had planned due to the challenges of ALS and his desire to spend more time with his family and friends in the coming months. 

Founding Dean Cynda Johnson recruited Dr. Vari from the University of North Dakota to join VTCSOM in April 2008 as the founding associate dean for medical education.  Rick led the development of our innovative 4-domain, problem-based learning curriculum and successfully stewarded our initial accreditation prior to the inaugural class graduation in 2018. In addition to his administrative leadership over the past 13 years Rick has continued to be an engaged educator, award-winning lecturer (renal physiology) and small group facilitator.    He became senior dean for academic affairs in 2015.

Dr. Vari’s many honors include the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award from the American Association of Medical Colleges in 2017. He also served as president of the International Association of Medical Science Educators from 2018-2020 and was instrumentally involved in bringing the organization’s annual meeting to Roanoke in 2019.

We are planning a celebration worthy of Dr. Vari’s long-lasting contributions to our medical school over the past 13 years.  Please SAVE THE DATE for an invited event to honor Rick’s career from 5-7pm on Friday, October 29 in the atrium and adjoining areas of Riverside 2.    Official invitations with RSVP requests will be forthcoming.

Guests attending the event in person will need to register in advance and confirm that they are completely vaccinated. All participants will need to wear a mask at all times while inside the building.  The event will also be livestreamed through a link sent to all invited guests. 

We hope you will be able to join us, either in-person or virtually, to thank Dr. Vari for his outstanding contributions to VTCSOM!

Lee A. Learman, MD, PhD
Dean, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine