Health sciences in the spotlight
Tue, September 22, 2026, at 11am
Carol Bradford
Interim Dean, Medical School, and Interim Executive Vice President for Health Affairs
University of Minnesota
Event to be held via Zoom.
UMRA’s September Living Well Workshop will feature Carol Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, interim dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School and interim executive vice president for Health Affairs. She is an internationally recognized cancer surgeon-scientist who also brings considerable leadership and administrative experience.
Bradford’s presentation at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 22, via Zoom will offer an overview of her first six months here following her appointment in February, and the University’s new tripartite partnership agreement with M Physicians and Fairview Health Services. She will also briefly discuss her research and clinical practice on head and neck cancers.
In a video message recorded shortly before her arrival and posted on her Medical School webpage, Bradford expressed "excitement and gratitude" for both the opportunity to join the University of Minnesota and the future of our Medical School and health sciences. With remarkable candor and directness, she also acknowledged that this is an “extremely challenging time” at the University.
An expert in head and neck oncology, focusing her research on the development of therapies that overcome resistance to therapy, Bradford has identified and evaluated biomarkers that can predict outcomes. She pioneered the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy as a safe and reliable tool to stage patients with melanoma of the head and neck. More than 330 peer-reviewed articles and 20 book chapters document the results of her research and analysis.
Before coming to Minnesota, Bradford served five years as dean of the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University and vice president for health sciences at the OSU Wexner Medical Center. Prior to Ohio State, she spent her professional career at the University of Michigan. After completing degrees and three residencies there, she joined the faculty in 1992, establishing a research reputation even as she rose through the administrative ranks to become executive vice dean for academic affairs in the University of Michigan Medical School in 2016.
A member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow in major medical associations, Bradford has won distinguished service awards for her work in patient care, mentorship, and community involvement. In 2012, she was elected as the first woman president of the American Head and Neck Society.
Her reflective approach, collaborative leadership, and forward thinking are evident in her monthly Office of Academic Clinical Affairs blog that creatively takes on the theme “elevate” to address issues shaping health sciences at the University.
—Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, UMRA president
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