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Dr. Gerald Fleischli is stepping down Sept. 15 as director of the University Health Center, after holding the position for 11 years.
The position Fleischli currently holds is split between his directorship and seeing patients. After Sept. 15, Fleischli will become an academic-year physician only, which means he will only see patients, and the health center will have to find a replacement director before that time.
The full-year commitment of the directorship left too little time for private life, Fleischli said.
"I wanted to spend more time at home and with my wife, which I could do in an academic position, but that meant I had to relinquish the director's position," he said.
Fleischli was working at the University of Nebraska before he moved to Eugene in 1991 to begin the directorship. He said he wanted to be closer to the ocean after living in Nebraska for 21 years.
Fleischli received his bachelor's from MIT, a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford and his medical degree from Stanford.
In the 11 years he has worked at the health center, Fleischli served on a statewide task force for student health insurance, creating electronic medical records and clarifying the health center's policy on pre-enrollment immunizations, Vice President for Student Affairs Anne Leavitt said.
However, Fleischli thinks modestly about his contribution to the health center.
"(The changes are) things that happened while I was here," he said. "It's all of the other people that do that. I just go to meetings."
Fleischli's colleagues say he is a valuable asset.
"(He) is a very capable director and has a wealth of experience in student health and administrative medicine," health center physician James Jackson said. "He'll be a difficult person to replace."
Nurse practitioner Anne Mattson concurs.
"Not only is he a great human being, he's also an excellent leader," she said.
The University is currently searching nationwide for a new director, and a couple of candidates for the position have visited the University.
However, the search committee has been working on finding a replacement for about eight months already, Leavitt said.
"When you're doing a national search -- this is the top health position on campus -- it'll take a while," Leavitt said.
If the University Health Center search committee cannot find a replacement by Sept. 15, an interim director will be installed.
The successful replacement has to have a specific set of skills for the job.
"I think we're looking for someone similar (to Fleischli)," Jackson said, "who has experience with administrative medicine, and who has enough clinical background as a physician to understand the areas of medicine we deal with here at the health center."
The candidate also has to have a few other qualities important to the University.
"We're looking for someone with experience or interest in working with the college-student population," said Linda King, director of human resources and chairwoman of the search committee.
Fleischli said he is looking forward to tending his holly farm, which is in the sizable backyard of his home, near Creswell. He also has immediate plans to spend more time with his wife.
"We're going to take a cruise for our 40th anniversary at the end of the month," he said.
Contact the reporter at jilliandaley@dailyemerald.com.
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