About the Provost

Dr. Robert S. DiPaola is the Provost at the University of Kentucky. He also serves as the Co-Executive Vice President for Health Affairs (EVPHA) at UK HealthCare.

Provost DiPaola is a first-generation college graduate and completed his medical degree at the University of Utah. After graduation, he pursued an internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in hematology-oncology at the University of Pennsylvania.

As Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky, he led and managed all aspects of operations of the college with approximately 1,100 full-time faculty and 2,000 learners; led efforts to create new campuses in Bowling Green and Northern Kentucky; and launched new educational and research initiatives that have led to increased federal research funding.

He helped lead the development of our new strategic plan, The UK-PURPOSE, during his time as acting provost (July 1, 2021 - June 1, 2022).

He has helped create a foundation for — and has continued to lead efforts around — UK’s process for reaccreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). As part of that plan, he has played a key role in consulting and collaborating with members of our community across the campus in the development of our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).

As acting Co-EVPHA, he completed a strategic refresh for UK HealthCare, including a greater focus on advanced care, our people and leveraging what we are as an academic health system.