The Stead Family Department of Pediatrics is pleased to announce our new Clinical Department Administrator, Keith Clasen. Keith comes to us with a wealth of institutional knowledge: after receiving his MBA from St. Ambrose University, Keith has been with the University since 2002. He was the Human Resources Representative in Facilities Management from 2002-2006, followed by the Human Resources and Support Services Manager in the Department of Pathology from 2006-2010.

Since 2011, Keith has been the Senior Human Resources Director for UI Health Care, overseeing over 50 departments within UIHC, UI Physicians, and the College of Medicine, where he has had the opportunity to partner with institutional and departmental leaders in identifying strategic opportunities that produce results aligned with meeting the needs of the various departments. This includes collaborating with others both within and outside UI Health Care to help influence and manage change initiatives. He has extensive experience with workforce planning, developing effective teams and change management. He has participated in collegiate leadership, collegiate administration, and hospital management initiatives for many years, which has provided him with solid knowledge and skills in the clinical, academic and research missions of the overall enterprise. We look forward to welcoming Keith to our Department in late April.

We want to thank all of you who worked together to keep Departmental operations running smoothly as interim contributors – in particular, John Heinemann and Cody Ching, who both served as Interim Clinical Department Administrators in full-time positions, and Stefanie Pirkl, who took on the role of Interim Clinical Department Administrator on top of her rigorous duties as our HR Director while we finalized this search. Thank you also to our other members of the Executive Leadership Team including Jacque Meierotto and Phuong Pham, who helped navigate transitional projects alongside Stefanie.