PORTLAND (AP) - Oregon Health & Science University has chosen an insider as its next president.

Dr. Joseph Robertson Jr., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president of medical affairs, was chosen Tuesday over two out-of-state finalists. In September, he will succeed Dr. Peter Kohler, OHSU's leader for 18 years.

Kohler, 67, helped turn OHSU from a low-profile state school into a research-focused public corporation that has become Portland's largest employer. OHSU had a $254 million budget when Kohler started in 1988, and it is $1.2 billion today.

OHSU has undergone several major recent physical expansions, including a new biomedical research building, patient care building and a pending massive new waterfront campus and a new city tram connecting it to the main campus. Kohler initially planned to retire 2003, but stayed on to guide the expansion.

“I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead OHSU,” Robertson, 53, said. “There are many exciting things going on.”

Robertson came to OHSU as a resident in 1979 and has worked his way up in numerous roles, including serving as director of the Casey Eye Institute. He became the dean of the state's only medical school in 2003 after serving as its interim dean.

As dean, he increased enrollment in the medical school in anticipation of a physician shortage, developed education partnerships with the University of Oregon and several upcoming partners. And he recruited more than 150 new doctors and Ph.D. faculty members. The school moved up in the National Institutes of Health ranking from 32nd to 23rd place, with 10 School of Medicine departments in the top 15 of the NIH rankings under his leadership.

Robertson beat out two out-of-state finalists for the position: Jay Gershen of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Paul Whelton from Tulane University Health Sciences Center.

“The search committee feels that Dr. Robertson is the best choice for OHSU and for all Oregonians,” Henry Hewitt, OHSU board member and chairman of the OHSU Presidential Search Committee, said in a statement.

As the new president, Robertson said he awoke this morning with a head full of ideas. He plans to address the need for a better statewide safety net, expand medical education around the state and continue the growth of OHSU research, including potential commercialization of research-based information.

“While OHSU's physical campus spans a few hundred acres, we must serve all 98,000 square miles of the state of Oregon,” Robertson said.

Robertson said he couldn't imagine a more exciting job or one he'd be more happy to head to each morning than this.