After 14 years at the helm of the University of California, Davis, Medical Center, Frank J. Loge announced today that he'll step down from that post Dec. 1. Named one of Sacramento's "Top 20 Managers of the Year" last month by Sacramento Business magazine, Loge said it's time to leave while the medical center is at its zenith. "I've been the captain of the ship for many years and I'm ready to look for newer and different kinds of challenges," said Loge. "I have always felt it best to leave an organization when it is in the best shape, and the Medical Center is thriving, academically and financially. I believe my leadership has contributed to its success, but new leadership and fresh ideas are needed to take it to its next level." As director of hospital and clinics and chief operations officer of the UC Davis Health System, Loge oversees a facility with 453 licensed beds, an annual budget of $539 million (98 percent of which is generated through reimbursement for patient services), and some 850,000 outpatient and emergency room visits each year. The UC Davis Medical Center has enjoyed financial success while most academic medical centers across the country are struggling. "This is a sad day for me," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "Frank and I go back to 1984, the year he accepted the directorship and I came to UC Davis. We worked closely together through some very tough times early on, and enjoyed some exhilarating highs together as well -- foremost among them the Shriners Hospital, our financial success and campus growth, and the high level of service we've been able to give to Northern California. "I have not known a university administrator -- ever -- who had more success in performing his or her professional duties than did Frank Loge," the chancellor continued. "He is certainly an unusually savvy businessman, but through it all he has never forgotten that academics always come first. Frank has made a contribution that will positively affect the University of California and the Sacramento Metropolitan area forever, and it is forever that we will be in his debt. He is moving on while at the top of his game, and I wish him and his wife, Sherrie, the very best as they contemplate the next chapter in their lives." Added Robert D. Grey, UC Davis provost and executive vice chancellor and the governing body of the medical center: "Frank Loge is a remarkable hospital director. He is creative, farsighted and generous, and he provided the leadership that transformed UCDMC into a world-class medical center. I will miss having him as a colleague but I know that he will be enormously successful at whatever he decides to undertake, and I wish him the very best." Loge is responsible for the medical center's first long-range development and capital strategy plan for on-site and off-site facilities, and the resulting expansion of the hospital's main plant, new research facilities, an ambulatory care center, a cogeneration power plant and a soon-to-be-constructed hotel. His efforts largely led to the relocation of the flagship Shriners Hospital for Children from San Francisco to the UCDMC campus. Under his leadership, the medical center competed successfully in the most extensive managed care market in the country. He reorganized hospital/clinic and physician practices into an integrated health care system, developed strategic alliances with regional hospitals, and formed regional satellite primary care clinics. Loge also strengthened the medical center's commitment to the Sacramento community and to public service, forming a hospital Leadership Council of business and civic leaders, creating a hospital staff mentorship program for local K-12 students, and partnering with the Sacramento Urban League to teach computer skills to children and to prepare individuals for careers in the health field. Loge joined UC Davis in 1975 as associate director of hospital and clinics and director of finance. In 1979, he was promoted to deputy director of hospital and clinics and, in 1984, assumed his current post. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Claremont Men's College in 1967 and a master's of business administration in 1969 from California State University, Long Beach.