Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), will deliver the UT College of Medicine commencement address Friday, June 1, at 2:30 p.m. in Stranahan Theater, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd, Toledo.

There are 184 candidates for doctor of medicine degrees, doctor of philosophy and master’s degrees in biomedical sciences, MD/PhDs, and graduate certificates in pathology, contemporary gerontological practice, bioinformatics and proteomics/genomics.

Kirch began his tenure as AAMC president in 2006 and has been a member of its Executive Council since 2001. The nonprofit association based in Washington, D.C. , represents 125 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools, nearly 400 teaching hospitals and health systems, and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students and 104,000 resident physicians.

He advocates for the return of the public good. In one of his monthly columns, he wrote, “Throughout our country’s history, we repeatedly have declared some goods and services to be so essential that every citizen should have access to them. But today, three of our most vital public goods — higher education, scientific research and health care — are becoming subject to the whims of the marketplace and beyond the reach of many Americans. It is time to restore our nation’s commitment to the public good.”

Prior to joining the AAMC, Kirch was senior vice president for health affairs, dean of the College of Medicine and CEO of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at Pennsylvania State University for six years. From 1994 to 2000, he held several leadership positions — dean of the medical school, senior vice president for clinical activities and dean of the School of Graduate Studies — at the Medical College of Georgia. Kirch also was on faculty at George Washington University and worked at the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda , Md. , where he was named acting scientific director in 1993.

As a psychiatrist and clinical neuroscientist, Kirch is a leading expert on the biological basis of and treatments for severe neuropsychiatric disorders. He also is a noted authority on organization and management issues at academic medical centers.

The Denver native received bachelor of arts and doctor of medicine degrees from the University of Colorado . He is a member of the American College of Psychiatrists, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association.