​John Flynn named dean for clinical affairs at UChicago Medicine

John Andrew Flynn, MD, MBA, MEd, has been named chief physician of the University of Chicago Medicine and its health system and dean for clinical affairs, serving as head of the faculty practice plan and president of UChicago Medicine’s expanding care network beginning Feb. 1, 2018.

In these roles, Flynn will work closely with the dean of the Biological Sciences Division, the president of the medical center, clinical department chairs, clinical faculty and others to advance UChicago Medicine's missions of patient care, research and teaching.

Flynn comes to UChicago Medicine from Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he served as vice president of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians, associate dean, and executive director of the institution’s Clinical Practice Association, establishing programs for ambulatory, perioperative and hospital-based inter-professional teams comprising physician, nurse and administrative leaders. As chief medical officer of Hopkins’ accountable care organization, Flynn helped to implement medical and quality strategy across its ACO clinics.

At UChicago Medicine, Flynn will provide leadership of all physician practices, both on campus and in the community. He will continue to extend our physician practices in the Chicago area, expand and strengthen our relationships with referring physicians, ensure our clinicians are represented in administrative functions, and facilitate engagement of our faculty practice into other aspects of the institution’s mission. Flynn plans to continue his work examining innovations in ambulatory medical education, electronic health records and the advancement of care for patients with spondyloarthritis, a form of inflammatory arthritis.

“John Flynn is widely respected as a master physician, with extensive leadership experience in academic faculty practice and in promoting relationships between faculty and community physicians,” Polonsky said.

At Hopkins, Flynn co-founded and co-directed the Osler Center of Clinical Excellence and the Primary Care Consortium. He served as vice president of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians. Working through Hopkins’ Clinical Practice Association, he established leadership programs for multiple hospital-based interprofessional teams of physicians, nurses and administrative leaders.

He is the co-author of Seidel’s Guide to the Physical Examination, and is co-editor of The Oxford American Handbook of Clinical Medicine and Cutaneous Medicine: Cutaneous Manifestations of Systemic Disease.

Flynn graduated with a degree in mathematics from Boston College in 1982, received his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in1986, and completed his residency in 1989 and rheumatology fellowship in 1991, both at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He later earned an MBA from Hopkins and a master of medical education from the University of Cincinnati.

Board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, Flynn held several joint appointments at Hopkins in the schools of nursing, education and public health and is a fellow of the American College of Rheumatology and the American College of Physicians. His clinical research focuses on the advancement of care for patients with spondyloarthritis, as well as innovations in ambulatory medical education and electronic medical records. Flynn is a member of the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society and the Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network.

Flynn has earned numerous honors. At Hopkins he received the Osler Housestaff Teaching Award, the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award and the David M. Levine Award for Excellence in Mentoring. He also won the National Award for Scholarship in Medical Education from the Society of General Internal Medicine, the Young Alumni Award from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and the Clinician Scholar Educator Award from the American College of Rheumatology.