Kenneth P. Kates, the University of Iowa Health Care associate vice president and UI Hospitals and Clinics CEO, has announced he will retiring this summer.

According to a press release, Kates has been with UI Health Care for 10 years, working in health-care operations and leadership for nearly 40 years.

Patricia Winokur, the executive dean of the Carver College of Medicine, will take charge of the national search for Kates’ position, the release said, and a search committee is being formed.

Since Kates began working for UI Health Care, the release said, inpatient care has grown 16 percent and outpatient care 23 percent.

Kates oversaw the implementation of Epic, an electronic health record and order-entry system, in 2009. He also oversaw the 2012 opening of the UI Health Care location at Iowa River Landing in Coralville and the 2017 opening of the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Through Kates’ time with UI Health Care, the release said, he “championed quality, safety, and optimization of day-to-day operational efficiencies.”

“I am so grateful for all the amazing people I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside,” Kates said in the release. “I know that all of UI Health Care will continue to excel as a preeminent academic medical center, and I look forward to learning of all the great things to come.”

— Kayli Reese