Dr. Liz Petty’s remarks at Medical Education Day on Dr. Christie Seibert’s announcement that she is stepping down from her role as associate dean:

It is with heartfelt gratitude — and profound admiration — that I want to honor Dr. Christie Seibert, who is stepping down as Associate Dean for Medical Student Education and Services this August.

Dr. Seibert has devoted more than three decades of her career to the University of Wisconsin  — three decades — let that sink in. Three decades of dedication to students, residents, faculty, staff and to this institution — and to a brighter future of medicine itself. The impact of her commitment is impossible to fully measure, but we experience it every day in the quality of education we offer, and in the physicians we send out into the world.

I have had the honor and privilege of serving alongside Christie for half of those 30 years. As Associate Dean, she has tirelessly shared her time and talents to advance medical student education, resident teaching, and faculty development — while providing leadership oversight for admissions, curriculum, and student services for the MD program. She has done it all with integrity, curiosity, agility, and a genuine love for this work and the people around her.

Her legacy includes some of the most significant advances in our curriculum. Christie led an expansive transformation to integrate public health training into the MD program and shepherded our ambitious transition to the ForWard Curriculum — a complex, far-reaching undertaking that has fundamentally shaped how we prepare physicians for the challenges of modern medicine. She also helped guide our program through multiple LCME re-accreditations with a steady, expert hand.

Peers, learners, and leaders have taken notice over the years. Christie received the UW–Madison Chancellor’s Hilldale Award for Excellence in Teaching, the School of Medicine and Public Health’s Dean’s Teaching Award, and was elected as a fellow of the UW Teaching Academy. She completed the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Medical Educators and the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program at Drexel University College of Medicine.

We will miss her leadership in Academic Affairs more than words can express. But we are genuinely grateful that she will continue to be involved in our work to serve our patients and educate our students, and are committed to ensuring a thoughtful and smooth transition of her portfolio this August.

This is not goodbye. Dr. Seibert will continue as a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine — teaching and caring for her patients, which are, of course, her first two loves in medicine. And we are so glad for it.

Please join me in thanking Christie — for everything she has given to this school, to our learners, and to all of us who have had the joy of working beside her. We look forward to cheering her on in this next chapter.

We would like to invite everyone to the ILC at the end of Med Ed Day to join us in celebrating Christie with a special treat from her favorite local bakery. Also, we would like to invite all attendees to sign Christie’s card. It will be located at the registration table.

Christie, on behalf of our learners, physicians, partners and everyone at the School of Medicine and Public Health, thank you.