A Leader With Vision: Alexander Norbash
Alumnus brings a wide range of experience and a passion for his alma mater to his new role as dean
By CELIA SEARLES
Alexander Norbash continues his track record of innovation and leadership as the new head of the School of Medicine.
The School of Medicine is embracing an era of change and innovation, and the new dean is ready to lead the charge. Alexander Norbash (B.A. '85/M.D. '86) returned to his alma mater in March, jumping right in at a time of great growth, with two new buildings under construction that will help train the next generation of healthcare providers.
“I could not be happier,” Norbash said. “The environment is warm, welcoming and friendly with tremendous potential.”
Norbash’s path is special: From UMKC medical student to practicing physician, researcher and entrepreneur, he has come full circle nearly four decades later as dean of the school. His story is one of international and cross-country moves, strong familial influences and a steadfast dedication to learning – with each twist and turn preparing him for this next chapter at the School of Medicine.
Journey to Medicine In 1958, Norbash’s parents, Fatemeh and Mahmoud, left their home country of Iran as newlyweds. They hoped to learn medicine and education science in the U.S. with the intention of returning to Iran, but instead found themselves in England temporarily, where Alexander was born. When Norbash was 3, his family finally made it to the United States and eventually settled in Platte City, Missouri, where his father became the town doctor in a rural community.
One of his father’s patients, Etta Brill, left a mark on Norbash’s childhood that sticks with him all these decades later. As a teacher, Brill knew the power of a good education, and suggested that Norbash’s parents send their son to Pembroke Country Day, now called Pembroke Hill, which is a preparatory school in Kansas City more than 30 miles south of Platte City. Brill worked near Pembroke and offered to give Norbash a ride to and from school each day.
“Etta was transformative in my life, more than any other single person. For three years, she would pick me up and drop me off,” Norbash recalled. “If I had basketball, soccer or swimming, she would stay late and wait for me.”
As college approached, Norbash had two very different career aspirations, and a big decision to make – pursue medicine and become a doctor, or aviation and become a pilot.
Six-Year B.A./M.D. Graduate and Advocate Partly thanks to his parents' gentle convincing, Norbash chose medicine, specifically UMKC’s six-year B.A./M.D. program. It was here that he found his passion for radiology, but he remembers learning so much more.
“I didn’t realize how unique it was at the time, but it was a wonderful thing – having some humanities, some history, a little Shakespeare, a little Walt Disney and also learning about anemia,” he said. “As I moved up, I realized the vision of the medical school generated by Dr. (E. Grey) Dimond was special.”
Norbash graduated from the School of Medicine with his B.A./M.D. in 1986.
Norbash, whose hobby is flying helicopters, stands with the pilot of a Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter in California. Photo courtesy of Alexander Norbash.
A Medical and Academic Career Norbash completed his residencies at St. Francis Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh. While there, Norbash married his childhood sweetheart, Sapideh Gilani, who goes by Sepi. Sepi is a physician and surgeon who practices as an otolaryngologist.
Following his residencies, Norbash accepted fellowships in neuroradiology and interventional neuroradiology at Stanford, where he began his teaching career and also developed an interest in designing medical tools and devices. He worked with his colleagues on several original designs for medical tools, including a new method using laser beams to fragment clots, a stent that helps alleviate small blood clots and a universal catheter.
Norbash has seen his medical innovations in use during hospital visits throughout his world travels.
“You go into a Chinese angiogram room and, on the shelves, there are a few things you were involved in designing,” Norbash said. “It’s validating. It makes you feel like you’re making a positive contribution.”
Norbash and Sepi welcomed their identical twins Zac and Noah during their time at Stanford. When the boys were 4, Norbash accepted a faculty position at Harvard, and the family moved to Boston. Harvard afforded Norbash the opportunity to deepen his practice as the senior interventional neuroradiologist on faculty. He also saw some of his most unique cases there.
“I remember realizing there’s nobody else to turn to and, if it’s a really tough case, I better do a good job because I can’t hand it off to anyone,” he said.
While at Harvard, Norbash headed up the neuroradiology division and started an interventional radiology service at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He also earned a healthcare management degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, and went on to become a professor and the chair of radiology at Boston University.
When their sons moved to Scotland for college, Norbash and Sepi moved their empty nest back to the West Coast, where he became the associate vice chancellor for diversity and the chair of radiology at the University of California San Diego – until the right opportunity led him back to the place where his medical career began.
“When UMKC said they were interested in looking at me, I felt as though I’d be coming full circle.”
— Alexander Norbash (B.A. ’85/M.D. ’86)
Returning to UMKC UMKC was not the first school to recognize Norbash’s talents and seek him out for an opening in the dean’s office.
“I was waiting for the right one. When UMKC said they were interested in looking at me, I felt as though I’d be coming full circle,” Norbash said with a grin.
His affection for the institution and fundamental understanding of the School of Medicine’s many programs made Norbash’s decision easy.
Norbash knows UMKC and Kansas City well, providing the unique perspective needed to honor the School of Medicine’s past while guiding it into the future.
Chancellor Mauli Agrawal said Norbash’s hire is an important step for the school and university.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have Alexander Norbash as our new dean of the School of Medicine,” Chancellor Agrawal said. “His innovative spirit and enthusiasm for what the school can accomplish is contagious and is exactly the kind of energy we want in our professional programs.”
A Life Outside Medicine Despite the chaotic and busy life of a medical professional, Norbash never gave up on his other dream. When he isn’t in the halls of the School of Medicine building, Norbash pilots helicopters in his free time.
In 1990, 10 years after his decision to choose healing over flying, he spent one of his first residency paychecks on pilot lessons. He realized a passion doesn’t always have to be a career – it can be a fulfilling hobby, too.
“If you don’t start something, you’ll never finish it,” Norbash said. “If there’s something that I’d like to do, I try not to put it off.”
Norbash shares a laugh with students inside the School of Medicine.
Priorities for Deanship and Looking to the Future Despite his background in higher-ed administration, tackling the dean’s job has presented Norbash with new challenges.
“It’s clear that I feel more responsible for setting strategy and direction,” he said. “It’s inherently more gratifying and enjoyable. Everyone has been incredibly accommodating, kind, open, good and trying to facilitate my success, which I appreciate.”
Norbash also acknowledged the importance of emotional intelligence in the job.
“I have a pretty photographic emotional memory,” he said. “I can remember how I felt at every point in my life. I think this should serve me well because it helps me empathize more effectively. It reminds me of how important the perceptual and the emotional sides of things are.”
Since his first day in March, Norbash has been looking for new opportunities to deliver healthcare. One priority has been figuring out how to use wearable technology, such as smartwatches and other monitors, as an extra healthcare tool for providers.
Norbash’s vision is that a patient’s wearable health data would be available to their medical providers, alerting them if anything seems out of the ordinary, such as heart rate or body temperature. This would allow the doctor to intervene at the earliest warning signs, before a condition required serious intervention such as hospitalization.
“I think the wearable tech healthcare delivery piece is something we can get off the ground,” Norbash said. “The end goal is improving the quality of healthcare in Missouri, and effectively reaching rural isolated communities in addition to disenfranchised urban communities.”
“We must elevate our research stature by hiring research faculty and making sure that we have state-of-the-art labs and equipment space to attract the best faculty we possibly can.”
— Alexander Norbash (B.A. ’85/M.D. ’86)
Another priority is mental healthcare in Missouri.
“Until we effectively address addiction, depression, self-harm and the full range of mental illness, we have failed to truly care for our citizenry,” Norbash said. “The main goal is delivering effective behavioral health to all sectors of the population, and the steps begin with prioritizing and aligning care delivery, policy, legislature and public attention.”
Norbash also wants the School of Medicine to be a little less “Midwest modest,” and to “beat its chest” more about its excellent research, as well as faculty and program accomplishments.
He hopes to inspire the same spirit of innovation within the Roo medical community that he found at Stanford, and eventually offer opportunities for students to enter incubation programs where they hone their medical and entrepreneurial skills at the same time.
As for research, he said it remains a top priority.
“We must elevate our research stature by hiring research faculty and making sure that we have state-of-the-art labs and equipment space to attract the best faculty we possibly can,” he said.
One state-of-the-art development sure to elevate the reputation of the School of Medicine is the new Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building, which just recently broke ground and will open in 2026. This new addition to the Health Sciences Campus will provide invaluable opportunities for simulation and lab training for medical students. The St. Joseph campus is also set to open its new building in 2025. The four-year M.D. program’s focus on closing the gaps in rural healthcare is a top mission of the UMKC School of Medicine.
“That is going to be a fundamental and foundational piece of our future,” Norbash said. n