Dr. Michael Karpf, a top health official at UK, has made his decision to retire in 2017, President Eli Capiluoto said Wednesday in a campus-wide email.

Karpf has been the executive vice president for Health Affairs at UK Healthcare for the past 13 years, the email said.

“Discharges from the hospital doubled to 37,789, annually, patient visits to our clinics grew to 1.5 million, annually, and transfer of patients from other hospitals for subspecialty care astoundingly grew from 1,000 to more than 18,000, annually,”

Capiluoto said at Karpf’s tenure, according to the email. 

In Karpf’s message to the UK Healthcare family, before his retirement in 2017 he plans to finish a neonatal ICU that will support both its staff and faculty, Capilouto wrote in his email. He also has plans to complete an entryway into the Kentucky Children’s Hospital used for a support space for patients and their families.

“We need an EVPHA who relishes addressing the changes necessary to survive and thrive in the new world of healthcare on the horizon, Karpf said in regards to future leadership, according to the email.

President Capiluoto wrote the announcement of Dr. Mike Karpf’s retirement was expected but “it does not make it any easier to accept.”