Dr. Thomas McAfee, who was dean of clinical affairs at the University of California, San Diego Health Sciences, died while on vacation in Africa.
McAfee was scheduled to begin a new role as CEO of the newly forming Keck Medicine of USC Medical Foundation on September 3.
McAfee, 58, died in Tanzania, Debra Kain, spokeswoman for UC San Diego Health Sciences, told U-T San Diego.
The cause of death isn’t immediately clear.
McAfee had a varied career that included more than a decade in the UCSD Health System, vice president of Stanford University Health Care, and executive vice president of the Brown and Toland Medical Group, He graduated from Pomona College and earned a doctor of medicine degree at Georgetown University.
Colleagues mourned the passing of McAfee.
Ashish K. Jha, a professor at Harvard School of Public Health, described McAfee as a “thoughtful, insightful man who was also caring and good-hearted.”
McAfee “was considered by many to be a wonderful mentor and an important clinical leader,” Jha said. “His passing is a terrible loss for the medical community.”
“It’s a true tragedy and great loss to all of us at UCSD,” Mounir Soliman, assistant vice chancellor and executive director of Health Sciences International at UC San Diego, said in an email to NBC. “We are planning several events in celebration of Dr. McAfee’s life.”
