Dr. Ricardo Azziz is the eighth president of Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU) and CEO of the Georgia Health Sciences Health System. GHSU includes the Medical College of Georgia, the 13th oldest and sixth largest medical school in the nation, the only College of Dental Medicine in Georgia and one of the largest in the country, a College of Nursing training the highest number of graduate degrees in nursing in Georgia, a College of Allied Health Sciences and a College of Graduate Studies.
Having assumed the leadership of the institution July 2010, Dr. Azziz has moved rapidly to integrate the university and its health system, jumpstarting efforts to enhance national recognition and standing of the university and its education, research and clinical programs, re-energizing philanthropy, and driving efforts to broaden the university’s reach—statewide and globally. He has heightened the university’s commitment to civic and university engagement, embraced sustainability and demonstrated a strong commitment to partnership within and beyond the university’s walls.
A recognized clinician, biomedical researcher and health care executive, Dr. Azziz serves as Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Medicine at GHSU. He came to GHSU from the Cedars-Sinai Health System and UCLA where he guided the transformation of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Cedars to a nationally ranked and recognized academic department. Renowned not only for his androgen excess-related research, long-funded by the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Azziz also is recognized for his strong commitment to leadership and faculty development and for helping to make the careers of those around him more meaningful and productive. Previously, Dr. Azziz served on the faculty of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he focused on his research and clinical practice—and where he completed an MBA and an MPH.
A native of Uruguay and an accomplished artist, Dr. Azziz brings a global and creative perspective to his leadership of Georgia’s only public academic health center and health sciences university. He and his wife, Cindy, are enjoying life in the South with children Ashlee, Jonathan and Mallory, and their dog, Arlo.
