Hanover Dean Wiley Chip Souba of Dartmouth Colleges Geisel School of Medicine plans to step down at the end of this month, bringing an unexpected end to a four-year tenure in which breakthroughs in research funding and progress in curriculum reform were offset by financial pressures that have left the school searching for an additional $10 million in revenue over the next 24 months.

The news that Souba would not seek reappointment to a second four-year term as dean came in a news release posted on the Dartmouth Now website.

Souba, who could not be reached for comment, had been dean of the medical school at Ohio State University until September 2010, when he was brought to Dartmouth by former President Jim Yong Kim. In an email to Dartmouth students, faculty and staff on Wednesday, Kims successor, Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon, said that in the next few days, we will inform the community about the interim leadership of the medical school with whom (Souba) will work to ensure a smooth transition through the end of June.

Justin Anderson, a Dartmouth spokesman, said that the medical school was expected to end its fiscal year with a $5.5 million deficit, down from the $13 million deficit that had been looming. Medical school budget makers will also need to find $10 million in additional revenue over the course of the next two fiscal years, he added. The medical schools fiscal year ends June 30. Geisel had a $244 million operating budget in fiscal 2011.

Some on the faculty traced Soubas departure to financial pressures that made it difficult to make changes and progress at the medical school. The deans job, which requires balancing an emphasis on education with an emphasis on research, is naturally controversial, said Tim Lahey, an associate professor of medicine. When you add a worsening financial situation to the mix, the controversy intensifies.

Controversy boiled over in February, after Souba suspended new enrollments in the medical schools MD-Ph.D program, which, according to its website, trains physician-scientists to provide excellent patient care, lead discovery in biomedical disease-oriented research, advocate for basic and translational biomedical research and take leadership roles in biomedical research and the delivery of health care. After a wave of protests from faculty, students and alumni from the program, Souba reopened admissions to the program but continued to evaluate its future.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the financial crunch at Geisel reflects flat funding from the National Institutes of Health and budget woes at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the Lebanon-based medical complex that is a primary teaching hospital affiliate of Geisel.

Thats accurate and not inconsistent with medical centers and medical schools across the country, said Anderson.

Total spending by the NIH, which funds medical research at 2,500 universities, medical schools and other research institutions, peaked at $31 billion in fiscal 2010, sagged to $29.1 billion in fiscal 2013 and is expected to edge over $30 billion this year.

Standard & Poors, a rating service used by bond buyers, has awarded an A+ rating to Dartmouth-Hitchcocks debt but noted that despite a very strong enterprise profile the hospital and clinic network has a slightly weaker financial profile than some of its peers.

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Geisel School Dean Plans to Step Down