By SUSAN JONES

Anantha Shekhar, who came to Pitt in June 2020, has decided to step down as senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, effective June 30, 2027, or when his successor arrives, Chancellor Joan Gabel announced on Aug. 18.

Shekhar came to Pitt from Indiana University School of Medicine, where he was executive associate dean for research affairs.

He didn’t get to ease into the job, because there was so much to do as the COVID pandemic raged. He was immediately thrown into the middle of the University’s planning for faculty, staff and students to return to campus that fall.

But even with all that, Shekhar came with big ideas for Pitt’s schools of the health sciences.

“Pitt is very unique … to have six top 10 health sciences schools in one university and have a position to oversee all of those and to coordinate a truly modern version of health and health care through that, and then at the same time have the largest academic medical center and largest academic insurer as your partner, I mean that’s really a dream platform for someone who wants to think big about health sciences and about the future of medicine and future of medical and health education,” he said at the time.

A major part of those big ideas was making the schools work more closely together.

At a 2024 Staff Council Coffee and Conversation event. Shekhar said: “I’ve always felt like health is a team sport and how the health workforce should be taught in teams. I’m a very big believer in interprofessional education, interprofessional team building, and so that’s one thing that drew me to a job where I can oversee all of that and have the ability, if not to change health care broadly, at least influence it in a positive way.”

In a letter announcing his plan to step down, Shekhar said: “I am extremely proud of today’s health sciences leadership, the colleagues who have guided this work since long before I arrived, as well as the new vice chancellors, deans, chairs and department and institute leaders who have joined more recently. Together, they have helped build what we now call the strength of six: our six schools increasingly working together as one.”

He also cited several other accomplishments over the past six years:

• Pitt continues to be among the nation’s top 10 recipients of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.

• School of Medicine NIH funding has grown by 25% since 2020, “even as the federal research landscape has grown more uncertain than at any point in a generation.”

• In 2025, the health sciences schools drove most of the University’s record invention disclosures, patents and startup formation. Research and development expenditures surpassed $1 billion for the first time.

• The biotech ecosystem Pitt set out to build, anchored by partnerships with ElevateBio, BioForge and the broader Hazelwood corridor, has moved from plan to reality, carried forward by a landmark gift from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the largest single-project gift in that foundation’s history.

Scaife Hall’s West Wing and its new learning spaces opened, the 7T magnet was brought online, and long-needed renovations to Scaife and Salk halls were completed. 

What’s next?

Shekhar said that following a sabbatical, he will return to the faculty, “moving from building the infrastructure of discovery to creating pathways that are critical to carrying that discovery into the world. I want to spend this next chapter closer to the translation and commercialization side of biomedicine — helping to make certain that promising science finds the partners, capital and paths it needs to become a therapy, a device or a company that will improve the lives of people around the globe.”

The national search for his replacement will begin soon. Search committee leadership will be announced shortly. The job includes overseeing the six health sciences schools, more than 6,000 faculty and staff, and approximately 5,000 students, all while working closely with UPMC.

The University said in a statement: “Given the scale, momentum and exceptional strength of our health sciences enterprise, we expect this to be a highly competitive national search. It represents a rare opportunity to lead a thriving, record-breaking research ecosystem, and that momentum is precisely what will attract top-tier candidates to Pitt.”

It is also one of the highest-paid academic position at Pitt, second only to the chancellor. In December 2025, Shekhar’s salary was increased to $1,139,088, up from $1,111,305 in 2025. (Chancellor Joan Gabel’s salary was increased to $1.25 million, although she donated her raise to various Pitt programs.)

Shekhar also had a deferral agreement for $100,000 annually that he would receive if he stayed until May 31, 2025. He did not take the $500,000 last year, but is still owed those funds.

Because the senior vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine is an academic position, faculty will be elected to serve on the search committee through a process set up by Senate Council. The Student Government Board and Staff Council also will make appointments through their own processes.

The chancellor will appoint other members to the committee, which could number up to 15 people. In total, 50 percent of the committee must be made up of faculty from the health sciences.

Pitt will work with executive search firm Isaacson Miller, which also assisted on the search that brought Shekhar to the University.

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

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