Medical leadership announced for MH-TMC, Children’s
Seven members of the McGovern Medical School faculty have been named to new medical leadership positions at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.
This new structure was developed to serve the growing inpatient services at McGovern’s primary teaching hospital, which is consistently ranked among the top 10 for Vizient Comprehensive Academic Medical Center Quality and Accountability. The team will serve as a resource for McGovern clinical chairs and faculty members, and provide clear, unified governance for all physicians practicing within the Texas Medical Center campus.
In her role as regional chief medical officer for Memorial Hermann–Central/West Region, Bela Patel, MD, professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, vice dean for Healthcare Quality, and Graham Distinguished University Chair, will oversee this new team as it works collaboratively to set strategy and execute on key academic and patient care initiatives within the adult and pediatric services. Primary areas of focus will include improving outcomes to fulfill the university mission and commitment to patients, working across departments and multidisciplinary programs to develop an agile response to quality and safety events, and promoting a proactive and strategic approach to continuous improvement.
For adult services, Michelle McNutt, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery and holder of the Memorial Hermann Endowed Chair in Surgery, will serve as the chief medical officer for Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. Andreea Xavier, MD, associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine, director of the Division of Acute Care Medicine, and Wyatt Ranches Distinguished Professor in Geriatric & Palliative Medicine, will serve as associate chief medical officer-Adult Medicine, and Diana Racusin, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, will join the leadership structure as assistant chief medical officer-OB/GYN.
On the pediatric side, Robert Yetman, MD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics, is taking on the role of chief medical officer-Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. He will be joined by Keely Smith, MD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics and director of the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, and KuoJen Tsao, MD, professor in the Department of Pediatric Surgery and holder of The Children’s Fund, Inc. Distinguished Professorship in Pediatric Surgery, who will hold new titles as associate chief medical officers in their respective services.
This UTHealth Houston team will work with physicians across all adult and pediatric service lines at Memorial Hermann-TMC and Children’s Memorial Hermann to deliver the highest quality of patient care.