Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education Christa Zehle, M.D., has been appointed University of Vermont Health Network Director of Education by John Brumsted, M.D., CEO of the UVM Health Network.

The new leadership position was created collaboratively by the UVM Health Network, the UVM Health Network Medical Group, and the UVM Larner College of Medicine to “develop a unified structure for education in the UVM Health Network,” said Dr. Brumsted, adding, “Critical to our success as a regional integrated delivery system is our direct connection with the University of Vermont and our academic missions of research and education.”

Dr. Zehle’s new role is parallel to that of Professor of Medicine and Larner Senior Associate Dean for Research Gorden Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., who was named as the UVM Health Network Director of Research in July 2019.

In the new role, Dr. Zehle, who is also an associate professor of pediatrics and a pediatric hospitalist working at UVM Medical Center, will oversee medical education throughout the Network, establish a UVM Health Network Education Committee, and will report to directly to Dr. Brumsted.

"This new position is part of our Strategic Plan, Vision 2025, helping to maximize Larner collaboration and partnership with the UVM Health Network," said Dean Richard L. Page, M.D. "As such we will expand our important mission of education throughout sites in Vermont and New York."

Dr. Zehle graduated from the UVM Larner College of Medicine, then the UVM College of Medicine, in 1999 and went on to complete a residency in pediatrics at the University of Rochester. She returned to UVM in 2003 as assistant professor of pediatrics, becoming an associate professor in 2011. Shortly after, in 2012, Dr. Zehle was named associate dean for students. In January 2019, she began a one-year term as Interim Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education and was named to her current position as senior associate dean in March 2020 after a nationwide search.

Adapted from press release by UVM Health Network Medical Group