Chair of the Board of Trustees, Altarum Institute
Special Assistant to the President, University of Michigan
Dr. Kelch is Special Assistant to the President and the recently retired Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan. In this role, he led all three components of the University of Michigan Health System, including the Hospitals and Health Centers, the Medical School and the M-CARE managed care organization.
Dr. Kelch was the Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Iowa (UI) until September 2003. In this capacity, he was responsible for the strategic planning of the five health sciences colleges, including physical facilities and philanthropic stewardship. He oversaw and managed all components of UI Health Care, which describes the partnership between the UI Carver College of Medicine and the UI Hospitals and Clinics and the patient care, medical education, research programs, and research services that they provide. He co-chaired the Health Sciences Policy Council for the University of Iowa. Dr. Kelch also served as Dean of the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine at the UI from 1994 to 2003.
In addition to serving on the editorial boards of scholarly journals, Dr. Kelch belongs to several professional organizations, including the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Federation for Medical Research, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the American Pediatrics Society and the American Board of Medical Specialties. He served as President of the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research in 1983, President of the Society of Pediatric Research in 1988 and President of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairmen in 1989. He served as Secretary-Treasurer (1992) and Chair (1995) of the American Board of Pediatrics. In 1998–1999, he served as a member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Council of Deans Administrative Board and continues to serve as Chair of the AAMC Advisory Panel on Research. He was also a member of the AAMC Task Force on Conflict of Interest. Starting in 1997 he has served periodically as a Site Visitor for the Liaison Committee of Medical Education for other AAMC-accredited colleges of medicine.
Dr. Kelch received the Iowa Medical Society’s Merit Award in 2000. In 2004, he received the Midwest Society for Pediatric Research Founder Award for his contributions to pediatric research and to the career development of academic pediatricians. He is the recipient of the 2005 Joseph W. St. Geme Jr. Leadership Award, established by the Federation of Pediatric Organizations. Dr. Kelch was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1996.
Dr. Kelch is a pediatric endocrinologist originally from Detroit. He received his bachelor of philosophy degree from Monteith College of Wayne State University in 1964 and his medical degree from the University of Michigan in 1967. He completed an internship and residency at University Hospital in Ann Arbor, where he was a Wyeth Pediatric Residency Fellow from 1968 to 1970 and a Research Fellow from 1969 to 1970 in the laboratory of Robert Jaffe.
Dr. Kelch was also a National Institutes of Health (NIH) trainee in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center from 1970 to 1972. He returned to Michigan and became a faculty member at the University of Michigan in 1972 and became a full Professor in 1977. He served as Acting Chair of the Department of Pediatrics from 1979 to 1980 and as Chair of that Department from 1981 to 1994. During this time, he was Physician in Chief of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan and was Chief of Clinical Affairs at University of Michigan Hospitals from 1989 to 1992. His research in reproductive and developmental endocrinology was funded by NIH for more than 20 years and resulted in more than 100 scholarly articles.