AP— The University of Kansas School of Medicine has named a professor of medicine at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic as its new executive dean.

Dr. Robert Simari will be the permanent successor to Barbara Atkinson, who retired in 2012. The appointment was announced Tuesday by Douglas Girod, executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Simari earned his medical degree from the University of Kansas in 1986. At the Mayo Clinic, he is vice chairman of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and co-director of the Mayo Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

Simari is also the co-founder of Anexon, a company licensed to develop a method of protecting kidney function during heart